


Beautiful Lies

by Damari5



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Relationships, Bilingual Keith (Voltron), Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coming Out, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gay Keith (Voltron), Korean Keith (Voltron), Lactose Intolerant Keith (Voltron), Love/Hate, M/M, Major Illness, Minor Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Slow Burn, Welcome to my PHD Pepper and chocolate fueled insanity! Enjoy your stay!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 00:34:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 57,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15897303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Damari5/pseuds/Damari5
Summary: Everyone in Lance Mcclain's family is practically perfect. flawless grades, clear religion, and no trouble whatsoever. This of course was expected of Lance as well... but he was different...Lance Mcclain had a secret. And he was doing an amazing job of keeping it... until he rammed quite literally into the one person who threatened to bring these secrets to the surface. With each passing day, Lance can feel his facade fading away, but what happens when it falls? And what happens to when the spark that ignited him also begins to fade?Where Keith and Lance are both idiots that don’t know the difference between the words love and hate. Oblivious dorks are oblivious when it comes to feelings, but hey. At least they are trying?College/coffee shop au  in which a beautiful hatred is formed between these dummies. Fluffy as heck and probably very cheesy. But it is what it is because I am who I am so @ me if there is a problem.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Life is full of lies. That is one of life’s biggest truths. They are things that have been produced by all of us at one point or another. The word itself sounds daunting. Slimy even. Lies.  
> The most damaging are the ones unspoken.  
> The ones cultivated within ourselves until they are no longer.  
> The worst lies, are the ones so powerful, that they themselves become truths. 
> 
> Who I am and what I truly want is not important.
> 
> I don’t belong anywhere, I am not needed.
> 
> Truths in their own ways, because they are truly believed. Lies because the seer can’t see the whole picture. Falling deeper and deeper into this facade, until false words are sewn together into a protective blanket. This blanket of Beautiful Lies that will protect us from what truly is.  
> Shield us.  
> At least until it is pulled away. 
> 
>  
> 
> This au is written as a break from the book i’m writing when it gets too stressful. So I can’t promise lightning fast updates or some crazy plot twists, but I can say it will be fun. Also you will feel my 3am coffee fueled insanity so… yeah good luck with that. Thank you to anyone who puts in the time to read my work and I hope you enjoy! I really love these to dorks no matter what and will never give up on them. ALSO this fic is subject to change if I feel I want to fix anything or if something is pointed out to me. Thanks again!  
> Love,  
> Damari5
> 
> Also, I made a playlist of songs to listen to while I write this fic that I felt had the right mood... so if you would like to get the "full experience" xD  
> URL: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT-PIjvFWtgRYStyc2S8HcUm0pNwD3H8l

## Chapter One

His footsteps echoed throughout the hallway as he sprinted through in a crazed panic. His books bounced in his hands as he dashed past students whose faces were but a blur. Just take the 10am class Pidge had told him, you’ll be glad for the extra time in the afternoon. What an idiot he was for ever taking her advice. Calling Lance a night owl was an understatement. His average bedtime was probably around 6am. Which happens to be the time he went to sleep last night. Hence the waking up at 9:30 in a complete panic. He scolded himself for all of his bad decisions as he tore down the hallway… almost there. He should only be about five minutes late, which isn’t too bad is it? Except for the fact that this was the first day of class and he’ll make an awful impression for himself. He cursed at himself under his breath as he turned the final corner before he reached the room. As he rounded the corner he saw a flash of red and by then it was too late.

 

Their two bodies collided sending both people’s books clattering loudly to the ground. The boy Lance was left staring at was, to say the least distraught. His small frame made to look even smaller in the large red sweatshirt and black skinny jeans he wore. 

“Jesus fucking christ.” he snapped, clearly furious.

“Hey man, I’m really sorry I was just- Here let me help pick up your things” Lance tried to apologize, or maybe he was trying to lessen the blow he was surely about to receive. Scrambling to pick up the strangers things. 

“Just forget it asshole, I don’t have time for this.” The man basically growled at Lance. His small face was curled into a snarl, dark bangs falling over his fury filled gray eyes. He snatched his belongings off the floor quickly and he was gone almost as fast as he had came. 

 

Lance was left staring wide eyed at his books scattered on the floor. Everything happened so fast it was hard for his mind to fully grasp, so he just let out a long sigh as he bent down to retrieve his belongings. It was his fault wasn’t it? He asked himself. Either way he was still late for his class so he had better get going.

  
  


Lance had made it to the small lecture hall and found a seat near the front not two minutes before the professor had shown up. Satisfied with his success Lance watched as the woman began to set up the powerpoint with the outline of what they would cover in that class this year. Although he wasn’t technically expected to copy it down, Lance decided he’d take some notes anyway. He always tried his absolute best to receive the highest grades he could, which meant taking notes that he probably didn’t need to. But as he opened his black notebook he was shocked to see a pair of dark eyes staring back at him. What should have been the blank page of his notebook was instead a magnificent pencil drawing. It was a sketch of a little girl. Her face was dirty and her dark eyes were leaking tears. Her small braids were a mess and coming undone, little ribbons barely hanging on at the ends. She was also alarmingly frail, like she was starving. Lance to say the least was captivated by the sketch… it was of course unsettling but it was also beautiful. But how had it ended it up in his notebook? Unless… oh hell no, he thought. This must have belonged to that angry guy he slammed into on the way to class. He had picked up the wrong book during all of the commotion. 

 

Lance flipped to another page and was met with another fantastic drawing. A lioness, bright red flames rising up from its feet. Her face was pulled up in a snarl, threatening to pounce at any moment. Like overwhelming power. Lance was enthralled. The presentation taking place at the front of the room was barely an afterthought as he began flipping through the pages.

A man with a strong face bearing a scar.

A woman, a tender look in her withering features and long hair that flowed elegantly.

A river of sparkling water surrounded by tiny flowers that almost seemed to sway in the breeze.

Each one was beautiful, and each one felt as if they were giving off some emotion.

Lance was so captivated by the drawings that he hadn’t heard when the door to the lecture hall opened and a student entered looking like hell. He received an irritable scolding from the professor but he only answered with apologies and the slight bow of his head. Taking a seat in the back, he took a moment to settle down running a hand through his dark hair. After crashing into that arrogant asshole in the hallway he had been so worked up he ended up going to the wrong lecture hall.

 

Ok he may have been heading the wrong way before that whole incident but hell it was that guys fault anyway. Keith took a deep breath and decided that the lecture happening at that time wasn’t of much importance. So he took his time to survey the room trying to get a feel for what this class would be like. The class wasn’t too large which was good for him, because Keith didn’t particularly like people. Just as he began to think that this class wouldn’t be so bad his eyes caught on something near the front of the room. On the desk was a sketchbook bearing a picture of dagger… but not just any drawing… it was his drawing. But how did that make any sense? Unless… oh hell no, he thought. He shifted his gaze to the man that hovered over his artwork. It was none other than that asswipe from earlier. Keith’s gaze began to bore into him, his anger increasing by the second. 

 

Lance turned page after page his blue eyes blown wide. All Keith could do was sit in his seat and wait for class to end. So that’s what he did seething in his own anger. He was beyond furious. If that boy thought he had seen anything when he had snapped at him earlier man did he have a big storm coming. Every second that ticked by was another second Keith imagined what it would be like to murder the hell out of that smug little asshole. How could he think it was ok to just casually flip through someone's sketchbook like that? Keith couldn’t understand it, the only thing he knew was that there was going to be hell to pay.

 

The second the professor released them, Keith stalked out into the hallway and waited for that demon to exit the room. The second he saw a flash of that stupid freckled face he had the collar of his shirt in his fist and the guy’s back against the wall. Lance’s books clattered to the ground for the second time that day as the air was knocked out of his lungs.

“What the fuck?!” he managed to cough out.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Keith barked out, fury burning in his eyes. His knuckles turning white from gripping onto Lance’s navy t-shirt. He looked like a mixture of scared and pissed off. Keith tended to have that effect on people, but this was a special occasion. After searching the smaller man’s eyes for a moment Lance’s face darkened. He spoke out with a voice that was dark and cold, no longer squeeky and apologetic like before.

“Get your hands off of me.” The words came as a warning, and honestly it scared Keith a little, but he was never one to back down.

“Tell me why you were snooping in my sketchbook first.” Keith growled holding the others shirt tighter. Then Lance’s arms came up and pushed him back with a lot stronger of a force than Keith was expecting. It was enough to get Keith off of him.

“I opened your book thinking it was mine, because SOMEONE took the wrong book when they were being an ass to me in the hallway.” Lance retorted, his arrogant and sarcastic tone returning.

“You really have the nerve to call me an ass when YOU’RE the one who rammed into ME.” Keith snapped taking a step closer to the man.

“At least I apologized!” The taller boy threw his hands up his voice rising a pitch in defense. “You know what forget it.” Lance said angrily. He quickly collected his belongings from the floor and shoved the sketchbook at Keith’s chest. “Just take it.” he snapped.

Keith watched, eyes narrow as Lance shoved the book into his hands and stalked down the hallway, eventually disappearing around the corner. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


“So then the asshole just walks away without another fucking word!” Keith complained throwing his hands in the air and slapping them against his sides. After class, Keith had to go straight to his shift at Boreas, the rolled ice cream place on campus. The job wasn’t great and the pay was merely average but at least he had a friend there to talk to. Pidge side eyed him from the cash register and took a deep breath.

“Honestly Keith, It sounds like you’re the asshole in that situation.” 

“In what way am I the asshole?! He looked through my fucking sketchbook Pidge!” Keith basically shrieked in defense. 

“You treated him like shit when he was trying to apologize, and you pinned him against a wall and screamed in his face. That isn’t exactly an example of a model citizen.” Pidge countered with her usual amount of attitude. Which was probably why she and Keith got along so well. She didn’t hesitate when it came to putting him in his place.

“But my sketchbo-” He tried in a small voice,

“You were wrong Keith.” Just as the words escaped Pidge’s mouth the bell on the front door rang alerting them of a customer. Keith’s mouth opened and then closed, knowing that he couldn’t fight with the cashier while a customer was present. Was he really the one to blame for that whole incident? No way in hell.

Keith spent the rest of his day working at that damned ice cream shop. The playful banter he shared with Pidge however made it somewhat bearable. Once he made it home he decided he would sketch some before he went to bed. But as he reached out for his sketchbook he noticed a second black book staring back at him from his pile. It was that guy’s notebook. Keith pulled it from the pile and flipped it open. If that man had the audacity to snoop through his sketchbook he should be allowed to return the favor. To Keith’s dismay it was empty… so much for payback.

  
  


That night Lance lay in bed staring up at the ceiling of his dorm, thoughts racing through his mind like usual. Hunk was long past asleep, his snores echoing in the otherwise silent room. It wasn’t the sound that kept Lance from sleep, but rather his restless mind. For some reason he couldn’t get that asshole out of his head. How could someone who made such breathtaking artwork be such a dick? Yes, Lance admits that it was his fault that they ran into each other, but he didn’t have to get violent with him. Maybe it was wrong of Lance to look through that guy’s drawings without permission but still.... It didn’t matter anyway, Lance didn’t plan on talking to that hothead ever again anyway. Yet he couldn’t stop his brain from imagining what he might look like when he wasn’t snarling… he might actually look kinda cute.

Lance finally fell asleep with a smirk on his face envisioning that mullet kid smiling. It was an entertaining thought. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The rest of Keith’s week went for the most part according to plan. Well besides the second day of that goddamn Forensics class. The room was switched from the previous lecture hall to an actual science room. He was late a second time to that class due to getting completely lost. Luckily for Keith the teacher didn’t seem to be there yet. When he surveyed the class his eyes connected with a pair of sparkling sapphire ones a few rows ahead. The brown haired boys lips formed a smirk that Keith wished he could bitchslap right off of his stupid face. Keith thought about just sitting down and ignoring him but his “decent human being” took control of him first. 

 

He walked stiffly over to where the guy sat, a very large iced coffee sitting in front of him on the desk. Keith stared at him for a little longer then he should have just cringing over what he was about to do. Lance just stared at him one eyebrow quirked up in curiosity. Wanting to get it over with fast Keith plunged his hand kinda violently into his bag and ripped out a book and shoved it in the freckled man’s direction. His cheeks felt hot as he began to speak, a tone of annoyance in his words.

“You stormed off before I could return your notebook.” Keith said flatly. He glared angrily at the man in front of him, but Lance didn’t seem affected by it. He examined the book hovering in front of his gaze. It was navy blue, not black, and this one had gold accents along the spine. Honestly it was beautiful and a lot better than the one Lance had lost.

“That… isn’t my notebook.” Lance said confused, pointing a long finger at it. 

“Just take it anyway.” Keith pressed giving it a little shake.

“What happened to the one you took?” Lance questioned amusement dancing in his blue eyes. Keith let out a long breath attempting to suppress his anger. He looked back up at Lance whose face was plastered with the most infuriating smirk he ever saw.

“I don’t know where your stupid notebook went, I must’ve left it on the floor somewhere when I threw you against the wall.” Keith lied. “Either way it’s gone, so do you want this one or not?” His words were sharp and frustrated and Lance was loving it. This was the best that guy could do for an apology and it was sad, but also hilarious. Lance smiled wide and finally accepted the book being waved in his face. Honestly if Keith had to hold it in front of him one more minute Lance would’ve taken it across the face instead. 

With that the raven haired boy turned quickly and found his way to an empty seat in the back. Right as he sat down the teacher entered the room overflowing with apologies. She took role call and for the first time Lance could fit a name to that mullet guy that wasn’t just asshole. Keith Kogane. He hated to think it, but to him it sounded kinda pretty, and even worse he thought it fit the guy perfectly. Hidden under his rage filled expression, his features were small and soft.  Lance shook his head and looked down at his new notebook with a smile. He had to remind himself that he hated the guy. 

  
  


After Keith had given that asshat his notebook back, he figured he could finally just forget about the guy. But for some reason the universe had other plans. During roll call he learned that his name was Lance Mcclain. He had never even wanted to know this dudes name, but now he couldn’t seem to get it out of his head. It was like a bad song you hear on the car radio that you absolutely hate but for some reason you keep on fucking singing it. That is what Lance Mcclain was to him. He spent the rest of that damn class watching him like a fucking stalker. And the class after that. And the class after that. And the class after that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is forced into social interaction... he regrets it later...

## Chapter Two

* * *

The next two weeks seemed to go by quickly for Keith. He spent most of his free time working or sketching. He had his weekly dinner with Shiro every Friday night. Even though Keith already lives with Shiro and Adam. He still insists that just he and Keith have dinner to “catch up.” Which again, doesn’t make sense because they live together but Keith finds it hard to complain due to their past. Anyway the only other thing occupying Keith’s pathetic life lately has been his classes. Well more specifically his forensics class. It was hard as hell and had a fuck-ton of work. That is without the extra distraction that was Lance Mcclain. That moron was probably why Keith had so much trouble grasping the material being fed to him… because when  he should have been taking notes or paying attention to the oh so endless lectures… he was instead staring at that asshole’s stupid caramel macchiato skin. It wasn’t like Keith was obsessed with him or anything, he hated his guts. But over the weeks he noticed some things about the smug ass that always seemed to be in his line of sight. 

 

First is that his skin is flawless... like actually perfect. It was annoying as hell, and his brown hair complimented it so well. But these looked even more breathtaking when paired with his sapphire eyes that sparkled like the jewels themselves. This of course was from an artist’s perspective nothing more. The second thing he noticed was his iced coffee the size of the fucking Lotte World Tower. He brought one in with him every single day. It was so many shades lighter than the kids skin which was ridiculous. The “coffee” was probably sixty percent cream and sugar. What made the whole thing even worse was that he finished the colossal sized drink by mid notes. Now Keith only knew this fact because whenever he reached the bottom, Lance would make extremely loud slurping noises with the straw that echoed throughout the entire classroom. It was obnoxious as hell and Keith almost snapped a pencil every time he heard it. However, to keith’s surprise this was one of the only times that he displayed his obnoxious personality during class. Which brings him to thing number three that he learned. Lance was actually a pretty good student. He took notes like a god and for the most part stayed focused on the lecture. But Keith could always tell when he had trouble understanding the material, because his eyebrows would forrow suddenly and he’d chew on his lip. For some reason it took Keith by surprise that Lance was so studious. It was oddly mature for someone with such a childish grin. Speaking of childish, every once in a while he’d seen Lance attempt to twirl his pen in his hand. He failed every single time and the pen went crashing to the floor, at which point Lance would pout and look nervously around at everyone as he shamefully picked up his pen from the floor. Keith of course pretended to be taking notes every time this happened. The last thing he needed was for this guy to think he was stalking him or something. Because once again, Keith actually hated Lance Mcclain, he was simply observing him for weaknesses… yeah that was it. 

 

Anyway back to what Keith has been up to for the last couple of weeks. Pidge had been bugging him for days about how he never hangs out with her. He tried his best to put it off, but she wasn’t going to give up. Keith suggested a chill movie night but to no avail. Pidge insisted that they spend the whole day together starting with coffee in the morning. Keith reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending time with Pidge, he really enjoyed talking with her. It’s just he isn’t big on sharing things about his personal life, and Pidge always loved to ask him about it. But alas, he would spend the day with her… besides, he could use a little break from staring at that stupid obnoxious dork.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“So instead of just picking chess like any sane person, he says he wants to play global thermonuclear war.” 

“Naturally.” Pidge remarked in response to Hunks exasperated movie explanation. They had come in to the cafe not five minutes ago, and they had already chased away all the customers with their loud antics. Honestly Lance didn’t exactly care, the cafe was owned by his family so it’s not like he was going to get fired. Plus he enjoyed the company of his friends while he worked. They were a lot better than the half drunk and/or high college students he usually had to deal with.

“Poor guy was probably just trying to impress his hot date.” Lance commented from across the counter. Hunk giggled into his tea from his spot on the couch.

“With nuclear warfare? Yeah right.” He retorted.

“I’m going to trust Lance on this one,” Pidge cut in, “He’s an expert at failed flirting attempts.” 

Lance scoffed feeling personally insulted by the little one’s comment. 

“Excuse you,” he began, “I’ll have you know that I am a MASTER at flirting.” He said in a defensively high pitch.

“Master at failing more like.”

“Oh yeah? Well then how about we bet on it?”

“I’m listening.” Pidge’s greedy voice called back at Lance.

“You said you invited one of your friends from work to hang out with us today right?”

“That is correct.”

“Twenty dollars I can get them to go on a date with me.” Lance said confidently, very eager to prove himself.

“Deal.” Pidge said with a devilish grin. This was going to be entertaining, for many, many reasons. Lance stared into Pidge’s mischievous eyes for a few moments considering backing out, because he knew that evil look in her eyes very well.

“Are they like super ugly or mean or something?” He asked cautiously, suddenly not trusting anything Pidge said.

“No definitely not ugly,” she said carefully as if still thinking it over, “they’ve got some little issues but nothing you can’t handle.” 

“Hm… sounds hot.” Lance said only half joking. Pidge however thought this was the most hilarious joke in the universe though because she howled with laughter from her seat on the couch. “Sooooo anyway… Hunk, how did they stop the computer from like nuking the whole earth?” Lance asked trying to not let Pidge’s suspicious behavior get to him. She was probably just trying to psych him out so he’d get nervous and fail. 

“Hm?... Oh! Tic Tac Toe!” Hunk stated as if what he just said made sense.

“Say what?”

“They defeated the computer with Tic Tac Toe… because it’ll always end in a stalemate, you see if-” 

“Oh look! We’re out of cups, I’ll go grab some from the back.” Lance cut him off not wanting to sit there and look stupid for not understanding what Hunk was about to explain. That’s how he usually felt when he joined in on one of Pidge and Hunk’s conversations. Generally he considered himself to be pretty damn intelligent, but compared to the two of them he had the brainpower of a fish. As Lance’s back disappeared into the storage room, the front door opened, and a boy entered, his eyes quickly scanning the cafe until he locked eyes with Pidge.

 

“Hot damn!” she yelled from her seat, a lot louder than was necessary for Keith to hear. He walked over to where she and a bigger man sat on a couch across from the counter. He introduced himself and learned that the tan guy’s name was Hunk, one of Pidge’s classmates. Keith looked around observing his new surroundings. The cafe was cozy, with a few couches and groups of wooden tables and chairs. Fairy lights were strung across the ceiling giving the room a soft glow. Keith found the place was actually very pretty and relaxing, he considered it as a new study spot. 

“Hey barista!,” Pidge shouted across the room, “my friend is here!” She then motioned her head to Keith urging him to go up to the counter. He did so hesitantly. 

A man came out from a doorway in the back, his head focused down on an empty cup in his hand. As he approached, Keith could only stand there in horror. He knew that brown hair, the perfect fucking skin, and he knew the sapphire eyes that he would meet as soon as the assrag looked up. Of course, it was fucking Lance. 

 

“Welcome to La Luna sweetheart… the name’s Lance but everyone calls me coffee because I grind so fine.” Lance’s gaze finally shifted up onto Keith with one eyebrow raised wearing a playful smirk. A silence settled between the two boys as Lance’s widened eyes looked up and down the person who stood pissed off in front of him. From his Timberlands, to his ripped black skinny jeans, his white t-shirt and tattered jean jacket, all the way to the beanie that sat on top of his stupid mullet head. 

“K….Keith?!” Lance barely even whispered his name in disbelief. His face felt unbearably hot as his mouth began to open and close unsure of what to say to fix the situation. It was Keith who spoke first, with an angry glare and a tint of pink in his cheeks.

“Lance” he growled throwing up a hand to silence him, “I honestly don’t even want to know… Just get me a black coffee and never say that ever again.” with that Keith turned and sat quietly on the couch next to a cackling Pidge. 

 

Lance was left standing there like an idiot, eyes wide and face as red as a tomato. His mind couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. He had just accidentally flirted with Keith. Accidentally flirted with the asshole who pinned him against a wall and screamed in his face. The one with the beautiful art but the trash personality. He called him sweetheart. He told him he grinds so fine.

“Lance!” Pidge called amidst her cry-laughing, “Did you get his number?!”

“SHUT IT PIDGE.” Keith and Lance both threatened in unison. She finished mocking them and turned to talk to Hunk and Keith. The conversation was out of Lance’s earshot so he just turned to make Keith’s coffee. He was embarrassed over the whole situation but more than anything he was ashamed. Ashamed not because he just used a god awful pick up line on Keith, but rather because the thing that was affecting him the most was that the asshole had said his name. And that he had liked it.

  
  


Lance took a long deep breath before approaching the group with Keith’s extremely boring black coffee in hand. They all were sitting on a couch in front of a long rectangular coffee table. It looked pretty full so he elected to sit on a chair across from them all. He handed Keith his coffee purposely avoiding his gaze.

“So Pidge what’s the agenda for today?” Lance said as he took a sip of his own drink. He hoped for the movies that way he didn’t have to acknowledge Keith’s existence or the mistakes he had made.

“Actually just Keith and I are hanging out today, we haven’t had much time to catch up lately.”

“What!” Lance screeched, “Why would you want to hang out with this guy?!” 

Keith’s lips pulled up into a smirk as he took a slow sip of his coffee. 

“Hey yeah what about us?” Hunk joined in with a pouty lip.

“Guess you guys will have to entertain yourselves for today.” Pidge said casually, “next time we’ll all hang out together, but for today it’s just Keith and I.” 

Lance could see the satisfaction on Keith’s smug face and he hated it. First he steals his notebook, and now his friends. What’s next? 

“Oh! Lance, tell me you made the canelés!” Pidge screeched from where she sat between the two other men on the couch. 

“Yeah… I made them…” 

“Well?!”

Well?” Lance questioned back, suddenly not in the mood to share with someone who was excluding him.

“Go get them! I’ll take a bag of sixteen!” 

Lance grumbled and stood up. After collecting the empty mugs from his friends, he went back to bag up the canelés for Pidge. Hunk had also put in a request for sixteen earlier, so he took care of those too. He tried making them for the first time last year after seeing them in an anime, and they were a big hit with the customers, especially Pidge. Now the cafe was sort of known for its pastries. Which backfired on Lance because now he was always busy making food in the damn place. However there were times when he didn’t actually mind working back there. It helped keep his mind off of other things. 

Pidge squealed as she snatched the bags from Lance and handed one to Hunk. She practically threw the money at Lance. As he rang up the order and placed the money in the cash register, he noticed Keith get up from the couch. He walked up to the counter, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket. For being so intimidating sometimes, he was kind of small. This might have been the first time Lance had seen Keith’s face without his usual scowl. His features were soft… almost pretty.

“How much do I owe you for the coffee?” Keith’s voice cut into Lance’s thoughts before he could think any more on it. It was for the better, Lance couldn’t afford to think that way about Keith, or any man for that matter. 

“Lance?”

“Oh! Sorry yeah… um… don’t worry about it. The coffee is on me.” Lance responded shaking his head slightly at himself for zoning out while staring at Keith. 

“You sure?”

“Yeah, but only if you agree to forget what happened earlier. I can’t have my reputation tarnished ya know.” He said with a sly grin. The same stupid arrogant smirk that Keith hated with the life of him.

“It’ll take more than one free drink for me to forget that kind of trauma.”

“Just be grateful that you get this one for free.” Lance said exasperated.

“Fine… but it was just so traumatizing that I might need to talk to someone about it… ya know?” 

Lance swore that he could see a glimmer of amusement in Keith’s gray eyes.

“Was that a threat Cocaine?!”

“It’s KOGANE.” Keith barked taking a step forward, his fingers curling to make fists. Both boys stood there practically snarling at each other. But before either of them could say any more, Pidge was pulling Keith away by his arm and out the door. She yelled her goodbyes to the others, and then the little genius and the emo ass disappeared out the door. 

 

Lance got back to work in the shop, preparing pastries and what not. Hunk left not long after Keith and Pidge, which had left him alone to his work. Customers began to slowly enter the cafe, and Lance got busy making drinks. As he blended up a frappe for a particularly snarky customer, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. Man did he enjoy pissing Keith off, it was just too easy… and he had a feeling it was something he was going to have to get used to.

  


* * *

  


After a long day of hanging out with Pidge, Keith finally was able to fall onto the couch and rest. But their plans were not over. They had two movies on the agenda for tonight, and a fuck-ton of snacks to devour. The first movie was one that embarrassingly, Keith had seen many times before, whether it be with Pidge or Shiro and Adam… and maybe once by himself, but it was just one time okay? 

“Did you really have to pick The Greatest Showman again?... We watched it last week…”

“Don’t even try to act cool Kogane, you and me both know you’re a slut for Zefron.”  

“Just play the damn movie Katie.” Keith snapped. 

 

The girl next to him on the couch knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t actually angry. She also knew that he did in fact love the movie as much as she did which is why she picked it. He and Pidge knew the words to every single song… and yes, they belted out every word. Using tv remotes as microphones and jumping on the couch and table for more effect. Neither of them had the best voice in the world which made it all the more fun to basically scream the lyrics together, and when Matt walked in the door after work, he dropped everything and joined in. By the end of the movie, Keith had lost his voice and both he and Pidge had collapsed onto the couch in a tangle of limbs and blankets. Matt bowed out literally, after his spectacular performance of “Never Enough” and retired to his room, leaving just Keith and Pidge to themselves again. 

 

They finished off their night with a movie called “The Thing,” which was supposed to be pretty scary but neither of them ever found out. Both of them had passed out not ten minutes into it.  

However Keith woke up in time to see the credits begin to play, the dim light of the screen illuminating the room. He didn’t plan on sleeping there the whole night but he was too lazy to untangle himself from Pidge and the mountain of blankets and pillows overflowing on the couch. So he just closed his eyes and looked back on the day’s adventures. Overall, Keith had a pretty great night. Pidge and Matt were basically like family to him, so spending some time with them was always nice. Plus it was amazing to finally have a night without having to worry about schoolwork. Except he did have class tomorrow… what was it that the professor had said about it? 

 

“OH SHIT!” Keith scream whispered. He had completely forgotten… the professor had said that there would be a quiz on collecting and preserving evidence tomorrow, and he hadn’t studied shit yet. He was screwed, absolutely screwed… He’d have to spend the whole night studying if he even wanted a chance at passing.

Keith slowly untangled himself from Pidge and slipped his shoes on. Grabbing his keys, he glanced at the clock, it was 1:30 a.m. which in all honesty, wasn’t too bad. He’d just have pull an all nighter, but for that he would need some caffeine. 

 

“Hey Pidgeon…,” Keith whispered softly shaking her.

She whined out a simple, “what?” without even opening her eyes, drool staining the side of her face. Keith was almost positive she wasn’t going to remember this interaction, but he tried anyway. 

“I have to go okay? I’ll text you tomorrow after class… Goodnight Katie.” He said giving her hair a little scruffle before rushing as quietly as possible out the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone know the movie that Hunk was referencing? I'm just curious.
> 
> Also! I hope you enjoyed chapter 2! I had so much fun writing it and look forward to hearing what everyone thought of it!  
> Thanks again!  
> Love,  
> Damari5


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith needs caffeine... and guess who just happens to have the night shift...

## Chapter Three

The cafe looked the same as this morning when Keith arrived, except the glow of the fairy lights felt softer as the sun had long since set. When Keith had stormed in, his bag on his shoulder and a subtle case of bed hair Lance had definitely been surprised. He had been on his second rendition of “Despacito” of the night and may or may not have been swinging his hips with the music. Luckily though he was alerted by the bell on the front door and stopped his dancing before Keith had entered. 

“Welcome to La Luna, what can I get for you today?” Lance asked with the usual amount of fake cheerfulness. When he saw who exactly it was that had entered the cafe, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Keith stalked past the counter only sparing Lance a glare before throwing his things down onto the coffee table. 

“Keith?… What’re you doing here? And where’s Pidge?” 

Keith pulled a small black notebook out of his bag and flipped it open as he sat on the couch. A long sigh escaped him and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You know what Lance? Get me enough caffeine to make it through the rest of the night and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

Lance stood still for a moment staring at Keith’s frantic state. At least he wasn’t growling in his face again, his attention seemed to be elsewhere. Honestly he looked like a nervous wreck… was the guy ever mentally stable? If he wasn’t, Lance thought, that was one thing they have in common. He chuckled quietly to himself as he turned to get the asshole his coffee.

 

Lance walked up to Keith, two cups of coffee in hand and stared down at him. He waited about a minute for Keith to take the coffee from him but he didn’t even spare a glance up at him. 

“Uh Keith?”

“Hm?” he pretty much squeaked, having been caught off guard, “Oh… thanks.” 

He placed his open notebook down on the coffee table and took the steaming cup from Lance’s hand. The mug felt warm in his palms giving him an odd sense of calm.

Lance took a seat across from Keith on a chair opposite the couch, to which Keith quirked an eyebrow up at him in question.

“You told me you’d tell me whatever I wanted to know.” He said matter of factly. “So tell me why you came power walking into my cafe at two am looking like a hot mess with a bad haircut.”

Keith glared at Lance over the rim of the coffee cup with his stormy gray eyes. He was debating on whether or not to get mad about the comment towards his hair, but ultimately he decided it was better to conserve the energy. To be fair he knew he did in fact look like a mess, and he would act as if he didn’t hear the other half of Lance’s statement.

“I… forgot we had a quiz tomorrow.” He mumbled into the mug ashamed of himself.  Keith was expecting the laughter and the mocking that was sure to explode from Lance at any moment… but it didn’t come. Instead he looked up to meet his sapphire eyes that gazed down at him softly and then he spoke.

“Yeah I was right… You’re an idiot.” 

Keith choked on his drink, anger boiling in his veins.

“You come back sixteen hours later with bed hair, no voice, and a pile of work to do… Did you even eat anything?”

“I can take care of myself Lance.” Keith barked.

“Based on these notes, it doesn’t seem like it.” He turned the book sideways and upside down dramatically trying to decipher them. Keith hadn’t even remembered seeing him pick up his notebook from the table. 

Keith’s hand snatched it from Lance’s grasp, “Well sorry that not everyone can take perfect notes like you.” he growled. 

Lance’s playful smirk faded as he tried to make sense of the other boy’s words.

“How do you know what my notes look like huh?” Lance snickered, “obsessed with me or something?”

Keith had yet to make it through a conversation with the freckled boy without wanting to shove his own hand into a blender. He sat in silence for a few moments pondering how Lance ever fit his head through the door on the way in before sighing back.

“Lance, if you’re just going to be a pest the whole time, could you please just leave me alone.”

“But I still have more questions.” Lance retorted with a wicked smile. He took a sip of his drink eyes staring straight into Keith’s soul. The raven haired boy rolled his eyes back at him and looked back into his notes. Lance wasn’t wrong… they were horrid. His handwriting looked like it was done by a blindfolded toddler writing with their non dominant hand. There was no way he’d be able to study off of them… not to mention half of what was supposed to be there was missing. He had goddess skin over here to thank for that. Keith glanced back up to where Lance had been sitting to see that he had disappeared from his spot and was now digging somewhere behind the counter. 

“Here!” He said as he popped up almost comically. His hair was tossed and his eyes wide in triumph, Keith raised another eyebrow at him. He watched as Lance untied the back of his uniform apron and pulled that and his red hat from the top of his head. The apron tossed his hair when he pulled it over his head and left it looking messy splayed over his tanned skin. He hung it up somewhere in the back and walked back around the counter. By the time he had made it back to the couch Keith had completely avoided eye contact. He physically smacked himself for zoning out on Lance’s features again. This was the exact reason he was even in this situation in the first place.

Procrastination at its worst… It had nothing to do with Lance.

“I’ll tell you what Kogane… I’ll let you borrow my oh so holy notes… IF… only if, you answer ALL of my questions.” 

Keith looked back up into those stupid sapphire eyes. 

“You don’t need them?”

“Nah… I already studied them all a few days ago.”

“Why do you want to ask me questions?... Don’t you like I don’t know… hate me?” His voice came out strained half from having lost it and half from frustration. However those notes were his life vest… he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. He had watched Lance take those notes. Watched as he color coded every damn thing.

“Yeah I do, but I've been here for like sixteen hours and am pretty sure I’ve gone borderline insane and if I don’t find some source of amusement soon I’ll end up summoning Satan with pastry dough and jelly.” Desperation flickered in his eyes that Keith was just now realizing were rimmed with red. In fact he had been such a nervous wreck he hadn’t even seen the exhaustion in Lance’s movement, or the fact that he had already downed two cups of whatever it is he had been giving Keith. 

“So i’m just amusement to you right now?” He asked flatly studying Lance’s features.

“Yeah pretty much… plus there’s got to be a reason Pidge likes you… so I’d like to see why.”  He took another sip of his coffee and settled into his seat with the cross of his leg. He already knew Keith’s answer. 

The blue book with gold accents stared at Keith from the table tauntingly until he finally gave in and snatched it flipping through the pages. He was right… it was fucking perfect. Every inch of it was flawless. The color coding didn’t even compare to the organization and set up of each page. There was even a space for diagrams. However none of these things were as perfect as his goddamned handwriting. His letters swirled in the most elegant cursive Keith had ever seen. It was like some kind of bad joke, the writing did not fit Lance’s personality at all except for the fact that it was extra as hell. 

Across the table Lance watched Keith flip through page by page in awe. His gray eyes blown wide and his lips parted. It was the most innocent look he had seen from the guy, and it was driving him crazy. He looked like a little boy on Christmas. He couldn’t afford to have thoughts like these now… but there he was transfixed on Keith’s features. He would do anything to distract himself from his prodding thoughts.

“Yes yes it’s beautiful, you can pick your jaw up off of the floor now.” Lance chided.

Keith hadn’t realized that his mouth had fallen open until he heard the remark. He simply closed his mouth and scowled at the pages. He hated Lance even more for this.

“Could you get me another one of these?” Keith asked without looking up from the page. He held his empty mug up shoving in Lance’s direction.

“Tch.”

He reached out and snatched the mug from Keith’s grasp their fingers brushing for a moment. Keith’s hand was cold as hell… Now that he thought about it, the cafe must’ve been pretty chilly. He spent most of his time in the back kitchen surrounded by scorching ovens, so he left the air conditioning on blast. Lance brought the mug back behind the counter to refill it with more coffee, stopping at the thermostat on the way back.

 

Once again he returned to Keith, mug in hand and held it out to him. He took it and thanked Lance quietly, not taking his eyes off of the notes. His eyebrows were pinched into a scowl, but it wasn’t angry, more so like he was concentrating. 

“What’s a druggist fold?” He asked still fixated on the writing, using his index finger to point at the words in the book.

“It’s a certain way to fold a piece of paper so that it can hold evidence.” Lance said peering over to where he was pointing in the notes.

“Why didn’t you write down how to do it?” 

“Because the teacher did a demo in class… don’t you remember?” 

Keith thought about it for a moment. He did remember attempting to fold something in there, but his just looked like a ball of crumpled paper when he had finished. 

“Mmmmm… no?” He said looking sheepishly up at Lance.

“We did that like three days ago… how do you not remember?”

“I don’t know Lance! Maybe I was busy!” He raised his voice exasperated.

“What could you be doing?! We were in class!...” Lance replied back high pitched.

They both stared at each other for a moment exchanging confused and frustrated faces. Then Lance spoke.

“Well it’s going to be on the quiz so… do you want me to like...show you how to do it?” 

Keith’s face looked mildly pained for a moment as he looked from the notebook back to Lance. That was the last thing that he wanted.

Keith took a deep breath, and let it out as a sigh, “I guess.”

“Ok, here, hand me the notebook.” Lance said plopping himself down beside Keith. He passed the notebook onto the other boys lap and set his coffee down on the table. Keith watched tentatively as Lance ripped two pieces from the blue book and placed one on each of their laps.

“Ok, now just follow along okay?” Lance instructed turning to Keith and quirking up an eyebrow. He was extremely close, a little too close for comfort. Keith swallowed and nodded his head trying to focus on Lance’s words rather than the scent that began to overwhelm him. Vanilla and some kind of wood or something. It was strong but still sweet, and he smelled faintly of pastry foods, no doubt from baking all day. 

“So first you fold it hotdog style, but so that there are three sections rather than two… like this.” He folded his paper in his lap and Keith copied his movement.

“Right, and then fold that so it’s also in three sections… good.” 

Lance walked him through it step by step almost like you would to a child, but at least it was helpful. Keith watched as Lance unfolded the paper again and set it on his lap, bending from the previous folds. 

“Okay now you’d place the evidence into the middle square but we don’t have any so…”

Keith was so focused on watching the paper that he hadn’t seen Lance’s movements in time to stop him. He plucked a hair right from Keith’s head.

“Ow! What the hell Lance?!” His voice cracked pitifully which surprised Lance. It was definitely a change from his usual growling… it made him sound much more vulnerable. 

“Now I have evidence… problem solved.” he said with a menacing smirk.

“Well I don’t.”

“I’ll give you one of my hairs.” Lance said pulling one from his scalp. Keith was distraught and very uncomfortable… but the deep scent of vanilla and oak wood seemed to keep him grounded. 

“No no no, you plucked one out of my skull, I get to return the favor.”

“But-” Lance tried but it was too late, Keith already had a hand ripping a hair from the side of his head. Lance yelped and rubbed his head violently…  _ he was so fucking obnoxious _ , Keith thought. 

 

With matching scowls they both placed their evidence into the middle of the paper.

“Now fold the two sides over it, so it’s one long column… good now when you fold these two pieces, you have to tuck one into the inside of the other so it stays folded okay? Like this.”

Lance folded the paper easily tucking one piece who knows where and flattening it out.

“Now, you try.”

Keith looked at the piece puzzled. He picked up the two ends and folded one on top of the other… but there was no weird tucking.

“No… tuck it into the other.” Lance instructed.

“Tuck where?!” Keith said confused.

“Into the other one… It’s what I just said.” He replied calmly but there was spite in his words.

“No no not… put it in the… Oh christ just here!” He said grabbing Keith’s left hand. He guided it over to the other flap where he then grabbed his right hand and squeezed so the paper would open. His hands were steady and warm against Keith’s cold shaky ones, not to mention the fucking fragrance was overwhelming him now… but it wasn’t exactly bad. Keith felt his face grow hot… Lance guided Keith’s hands until one of the pieces fell into the other. Then he quickly let go.

“Yeah see? Then you just tuck it in a little more until it flattens out.” He said calmly, bringing his hand to scratch nervously at the back of his head. He brought his hand up to the back of his head and scratched nervously, turning his face away from the boy next to him. 

Keith sat still and did as he was instructed, tucking the rest of one side into the other. Lance had been too close and he had blushed, but not because he liked it… no… because he was FUCKING PISSED. Who gave him the right to just up and grab his hands?

“Now you try it again by yourself, I need to grab something really quick…” Lance said quickly, standing up and walking away from the other boy. His presence was gone all of the sudden leaving the couch feeling empty. Keith grumbled and ripped another piece of paper from the notebook and attempted folding it. However he got lost halfway through and ended up with some triangular disappointment. 

Lance returned with a bagel in his hand and a look of judgement on his face. He really didn’t understand how Keith couldn’t grasp this concept. It was not difficult. He rolled his eyes and let out a huff of air, earning a warning glare from Keith.

“Here, all of the coffee is going to make you shaky if you don’t get some food in you.” Lance said casually trading the bagel for his notebook. 

Keith took it from him hesitantly, considering poison, but he ultimately decided he was too tired to even care at this point. 

“Now eat your bagel and watch closely this time. I am not going to do it again.” He said ripping out another paper.

 

It had taken three more tries, but Keith had finally understood how to fold the godforsaken paper, and moved back to looking over the notes. Lance had brought over a whole pitcher of coffee for refills so he didn’t have to keep walking back and forth from the counter. They sat in silence for a while, while he studied the other boy’s notes. As he read quietly, he could hear Lance shifting in his seat, and then a huff of air, then more movement. He was getting antsy… and on Keith's last nerve.

“So how did you get into drawing?” Lance finally broke the silence.

Keith exhaled as slowly as possible stifling the urge to scream. He had a silver tongue when he was tired… even he knew that. 

“I’m busy.” He snapped.

“We have a deal remember? You have to answer ALL of my questions in return for letting you use my notes.” He said matter of factly. 

“There’s no point in me using your notes if you won’t let me focus!” 

“Did one of your parents teach you… or did you take classes or something?” Lance asked nonchalantly, completely ignoring Keith’s remark.

 

However to Lance’s surprise, the question had silenced Keith’s yelling, and left him staring back at him with furrowed eyebrows. 

 

Keith didn’t even know who his parents were, or what they looked like, let alone their hobbies. He could have easily told Lance off for asking the question, and it was tempting, but deep down he knew that Lance was just curious. How was he supposed to know about Keith’s past? He exhaled slowly allowing his rage to leave him with his breath.

“My brother bought me a sketchbook when I was ten… I’ve been drawing ever since.”

He sounded solemn and Lance felt as if he had crossed some invisible line. If the drawing is a touchy subject, his blow up at their initial meeting would make a little more sense. 

“What about girlfriends? Had any before?” This was Lance’s attempt to lighten the mood.

“Are you serious Lance?” his snappy tone returned.

“Unless you’re into boys, in which case my apologies. Don’t worry I’m not one to judge, so feel free to go ahead and tell me about your relationships.” He went on and on, Keith was convinced he just likes to hear himself talk.

“No Lance I haven't had a boyfriend.”

“Really? That’s a surprise.” He couldn’t tell whether Lance meant this as a compliment or an insult, but considering their relationship, he assumed the ladder. 

“Have you?” Keith asked purely from curiosity.

“Wha… me? A boyfriend?...haha… yeah…” 

This was the first time Keith ever heard the kid stumble on his words.

“Sorry to break your heart Keith but i’m not into guys.” He gave Keith his signature smirk that radiated sheer arrogance.

This time it was Keith’s turn to laugh, and he did. He leaned forward clutching his stomach and laughed probably the hardest he’s laughed in months. His face was turning red and there were tears in his eyes. 

Lance’s smirk slowly faded, a wave of fear washing over him. Why was this funny? Is it possible that in the few times he and Keith have talked he was able to figure him out? There was no way… 

“What the hell is so funny Kogane?”

He just continued to laugh. His eyes were bright and his features were joyful, however Lance was by no means amused.

“You know Lance, I didn’t think you had a good sense of humor,” He wiped the tears from his eyes,” but Jesus Christ that was a good one.” 

“It wasn’t a joke Keith.”

“Sure.” He said focusing down into the notes again. 

  
  


Lance had spent the past five years of his life covering up what he knew about himself. He was bi, and he was painfully aware of it… but no one else knew that fact. Absolutely nobody, not even Hunk, and they’ve know each other since elementary. He made sure of it. So how on earth did Keith know it after speaking to him all of three times? He felt like his world was crashing down, while Keith continued to look in his notes as if nothing happened. 

“Keith?”

“Hm?”

“How did you know?” He asked carefully.

The raven haired boy looked back up from the book to meet Lance’s questioning eyes. 

“Lance, you’re the one who flirted with me.” he said deadpanned. 

“I thought you were a hot chick!” 

“You blushed.”

“I was embarrassed.”

“If you were straight you'd've been angry.”

“That isn’t enough to confirm that I’m into men though!” 

“You called me hot earlier.”

“A hot MESS… there is a difference… like I said i’m not into you Keith.”

“I never said you were!”

“Whatever… just… don’t tell anyone… ok?”

Lance gazed at the other boy with worried eyes. Keith considered fighting with him more, letting out a huff of air. But he could tell by his face that it was really bothering him, so he just nodded and got back to the notes. His mind however remained on the freckled boy. It wasn’t something to be embarrassed or ashamed about, yet he rejected it with so much force.  _ Whatever _ , he thought, it wasn’t any of his business anyway. A long period of quiet settling over the two boys once again.

 

After a half hour or so of silence, Lance was getting antsy again. He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he offered to help Keith study, which the asshole surprisingly agreed to. Lance moved back to the spot next to Keith and quizzed him for who knows how many hours on crime scene investigation and what not. Keith wasn’t bad at it per say, but he wasn’t the best either. He took it seriously and really tried to remember everything. Every time he got an answer right, Keith was rewarded with a smile from the freckled boy. Every wrong answer usually ended somewhere with Lance calling Keith and idiot or a “Come on don’t tell me you forgot because you fucking knew that one.” They went on, studying and bickering for hours, until they were finally hit with a wave of exhaustion. They leaned back on the couch and read the questions slowly… until they both passed out… Keith knew sitting on the couch had been a bad idea…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Thanks for reading!  
> Listen, I know it was real cheesy okay? That's just how it's gonna be so yeah...  
> I hope you enjoyed and look forward to any feedback from everyone!  
> Thanks again,  
> Damari5


	4. Chapter 4

## Chapter Four

At 9 am, a woman entered the cafe. She had pin straight brown hair that fell at her waist., and deep blue eyes that were rimmed red from exhaustion. The events of that night weighing clearly in her features. Her car stalled somewhere in the middle of nowhere on her way to take her shift. It was a big ordeal that lasted the entire night, and if that wasn’t bad enough, she anticipated that she’d also get an earful from Lance upon her arrival. However as she walked into the dimly lit cafe her heels clicking on the wooden floors, no one appeared to scold her.

“Lance? Are you here?” she called out into the silence of the room. Little brat forgot the lights on… and he didn’t even lock up. 

She shook her head and let out a breath of air disappointed.

The clicking of her heels echoed as she walked past the couches to the back room, to put on an apron, however as she approached the tables, her eyes caught on one of the couches. She saw Lance’s brown hair peeking over the edge of the couch. He must’ve fallen asleep waiting for her. She walked over to him, thinking of ways that she could make it up to him, but when she finally faced the couch, she noticed something else.

Lance’s cheek was resting on  some other boy’s head. He had dark hair and small features, The pale skin of his face pressed into Lance’s shoulder. They had passed out with papers and books still in their hands and on their laps. An empty pitcher of coffee sat on the coffee table, surrounded by little folded papers. She had no doubt that they had been doing some last minute studying and fallen asleep on accident. It was sweet, but the cafe was a wreck, and there would be people wanting to come in… no doubt they had already lost a ton of customers who were chased away by the “closed” sign that Lance had left lit up on the door.  _ What an idiot _ , she thought… dad would definitely have been pissed if he found out. 

 

The woman pulled out her cell phone and snapped a few pictures of the two students before placing it back in her pocket. She would never pass up an opportunity for gaining leverage over Lance. 

She kicked off her heels that had been painfully digging into her sore feet all night. She grabbed a pair of large pans from the back and returned to the two sleeping beauties on the couch. Taking a deep breath, she banged the pans together.

  
  


Lance learned that morning that like himself, Keith also was not a morning person. His evidence? A giant blue and purple bruise on his ribcage created by the bottom of Keith’s Timberland boot, and an aching shoulder where it had connected with table on his way to the floor. Yes that’s right.

Upon awakening to the explosions of sound ringing in their ears, the two boys were both panicked and confused. However, where Lance’s confusion triggers him to calm himself, Keith’s results in anger. Boiling, rib crushing anger. 

The little one awoke…  the innocent face that had been squished on Lance’s shoulder peacefully just moments before, turned into that of Satan himself. Keith’s eyebrows dipped down so far they reached the pits of hell, and his eyes burned with hellfire. He ripped himself away from Lance in an instant bringing his knee to his chest, and then releasing a blow right into the side of the boy beside him. Lance took the hit with enough force it sent him falling to the floor, his shoulder catching the edge of the coffee table on the way down. He hit the floor with a grunt, and continued to whine quietly as he writhed on the cold wood.

“Holy shit” The woman laughed.

Keith jumped up from the couch and stood over Lance.

“What the hell Lance.” he growled a sound that seemed far too deep to come out of such a small man.

“What do you mean  _ what the hell _ ?! Keith you fucking just murdered me!” He screeched sitting up on the backs of his elbows.

Keith’s mouth opened and then closed again, looking from the boy on the ground to the mysterious woman standing on the other side of the coffee table. He took a step back so that he no longer hovered over Lance.

“Who the hell are you?”  

“The name’s Dani.” She said extending a long arm to keith, “I’m Lance’s older sister… and listen, as hilarious as it is, I’d appreciate that you not kick my brother. We can’t have him losing anymore brain cells, he needs the little that he has.”

Keith’s eyebrows raised looking at the woman. She was tall, tan skinned, and had straight brown hair that cascaded all the way down to her waist. And like Lance, she had dazzling blue eyes and long, long legs. 

Keith took her hand cautiously, and she quirked an eyebrow up at him…  _ Jesus she really was Lance’s sister,  _ he thought.

“Keith.” He said firmly, “And I agree, i’ll try not to hit him as hard next time.” 

Dani laughed and turned to where Lance still lay on the floor.

“I like him Lance, you should invite him home for dinner one night.”

“LIKE HELL I WOULD.” He winced as he finally stood up. “Nice of you to finally show up Dani.” He said with unrelenting spite. “What is it 8am? You were supposed to-”

“Nine forty two.” she cut in, squinting down at a tiny golden watch on her wrist.

“Exactly you were supp-,” he stopped mid sentence, “WHAT?!” 

Lance’s gaze shot up to Keith’s, meeting gray eyes that were about as wide with fear as his were. 

At the same time they both shot into a frenzy. They had been warned by their teacher that any later than 10am on the dot, and they would receive a zero for the quiz grade. Keith scrambled to pick up all of his belongings from the tables, tossing the freckled boy his notebook. Lance ran back behind the counter to retrieve his bag and keys but.  _ Keys. Where were his keys?  _ He patted himself down as he heard the door of the cafe slam closed.

  
  


Keith had just started his motorcycle when Lance came running into the parking lot shouting at him over the rev of his bike. 

“Wait!”, he said finally reaching him, “wait Keith, please I really need a ride.” 

“No, don’t you have a car?” he replied with a scowl. 

“Yes I do, but I can’t find the keys, and there’s no way i’ll find them in time.” Lance pleaded grabbing Keith by the arm.

“So get a ride with your sister.”

“She got dropped off here, her car broke down Keith please?” Lance gripped his arm tighter and used the most innocent puppy dog eyes he could muster. If begging this asshole meant he wouldn’t get a zero, it was worth it. Just barely.

Keith looked him up and down for a moment, contemplating his answer.

“Fine, just never make that face again.” the boy said pulling off his helmet and handing it to Lance. 

“Shouldn’t you have it? Your body will block most of the wind if I bend down.” 

“My body won’t block your head from the pavement.” 

‘The… the pavement?” 

“Just sit down.” Keith snapped tugging the other boy by the arm.  

Lance lifted the helmet onto his head and got on the bike. The inside of the helmet smelled unexpectedly of flowers, and Lance couldn’t help but giggle at the thought that angry emo Keith used floral shampoo. 

“You’re going to want to hold on tight.” He turned his head back just enough to see Lance out of the corner of his eye.

“To what? There’s no handlebars back here.” he said only half joking.

“To me dipshit.” 

“No way i’m holding onto you like some gay ass romcom.”

Keith merely shrugged and revved the engine. He glanced back at the boy behind him. His lips slowly spread into a smirk.

“Have it your way Mcclain.” 

  
  


Long story short, Lance ended up gripping onto Keith like his life depended on it. As soon as they hit the main road Keith shifted gears and Lance was hit with a wave of adrenaline. His arms shot around the other boy’s small waist and stayed locked there until they pulled into the parking lot on campus. Making it there with five minutes to spare, they ran all the way to the classroom together. Once they were safely in their seats, Lance could finally take in a deep breath. They had made it. He had about five heart attacks due to the mullet kids driving. But they had made it. 

He turned for some reason to look at Keith then, their eyes locking. Surprisingly Keith’s stone face broke and a small smile slipped out. Lance laughed looking at him, finally allowing the comicality of the situation to hit him. Then he turned and looked at the black surface of the table. There was never really a dull moment with Keith was there? 

  
  


Two hours later, the two of them walked out together in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest, but the lack of words made Lance feel slightly disappointed. After finishing his quiz, he couldn’t help the occasional glance back at Keith while he worked. From what he could tell, Keith knew most of the answers, scribbling them down quickly. As he folded his paper flawlessly, Lance had felt weird… warm almost… like recalling a fond memory. He had shook his stupid smile from his face then and kept his eyes on his desk for the rest of the time as he waited. And now walking beside keith, his curiosity took control of him. 

“So Cocaine.” Lance started, earning him a piercing scowl from the man beside him. “How do you think you did?” 

As they passed through the large doors to the parking lot Keith’s scowl melted back into stone. The air outside had a bite to it, but the leaves on the trees seemed to burst with color. For some reason, Keith couldn’t recall ever seeing them before. 

“I think,” he said calmly, “I did okay.” 

Lance simply nodded in response looking up at the bleak sky as they walked. 

“You’re welcome.” he said with a smirk. The boy next to him remained silent at his remark, which Lance supposed was as close to a thank you as he was going to receive.

 

“Uuuum Keith? Where are we?” Lance asked as he stepped off the motorcycle. He had parked the bike in the street in front of a rather high class looking building. The outside walls were all sparkling white with large balconies and crystal clear windows. “I said just drop me off at the cafe… not a luxury hotel.” he said hesitantly.   
“We’re stopping here for a minute. Now just shut up and follow me.” Keith walked off towards a set of large gold doors at the base of the building. Lance reluctantly followed him through the threshold, suddenly not wanting to get left behind. The inside was like something out of a movie. The ceiling in the lobby was tall, and the whole place was brightly lit. There were few people scattered amongst the room, on various fabric couches around glass tables. Everything looked pristine and perfectly designed. Lance felt misplaced in such a high class environment. He imagined the eyes of the people stuck on him, judging his clothes, his appearance. He must stick out like a sore thumb. He trotted to catch up to Keith, but suddenly even he felt like a stranger. Why were they in this place?

He followed Keith around a corner to a line of elevators. He pushed one of the up buttons and then waited. He had known exactly how to get there…

One of the elevator doors opened, and they stepped in. It was perfect like everything else, and had very subtle piano music resonated throughout it. Keith stuck a key into a keyhole then and selected the sixth floor.

“Wait... “ Lance finally spoke, “Don’t tell me you live here…” 

The elevator lifted as they began their ascent. Keith glanced over in Lance’s direction, and then nodded slowly. His scowl was the same as always, but there was some other emotion hidden in his eyes. Lance couldn’t quite make it out. “You… Keith Emo Cocaine… live in this place?” He laughed. Of course this douchebag was rich. Why is it, Lance wondered, that the assholes are always the ones to have everything? 

 

The elevator stopped and Lance followed Keith off and into the hallway. They only walked past two doors before Keith stopped at a door marked “603” and put his key into the lock. 

 

The apartment wasn’t anything Lance thought it would be like. Based on the rest of the building, he figured it would be super fancy and pristine with crystal chandeliers and golden coat racks… ok maybe not quite that exaggerated, but you get the point… however the place was cozy, and generally small compared to everything else. When he entered he was welcomed with the smell of clean laundry and something sweet, like orange blossoms. There was different clutter scattered about making the apartment look comfortingly lived in. The fact that it was a normal looking home put Lance at ease. 

“You can sit on the couch, I need to grab some stuff and then we can leave.” Keith said dropping his stuff on the what looked like a marble island. Lance moved to the living room space on the right as Keith disappeared into a hallway. He sat down on the edge of the gray couch, observing his surroundings still. Why on earth didn’t Keith just tell him to wait outside? They didn’t exactly know each other well enough for Lance to feel comfortable in Keith’s place. 

The boy came out from the hallway, with a small circular container and a roll of bandages in his hands. 

Lance just watched quietly as he moved past him into the kitchen. He heard the sound of a refrigerator door, followed by Keith’s footsteps finally approaching him. 

The smaller man sat down beside him on the couch, leaving a small space between them where he dropped all of the stuff. 

Lance quirked an eyebrow up at him, “What’s all this for?”

“You, take off your shirt.” He responded firmly.

Lance’s eyes widened slightly looking at Keith, “Woah there tiger, at least buy me dinner first.” a lazy grin crept across his freckled face, eyes dazzling with mischief. 

“Do you want my fucking help or not?” Keith barked.

“Okay geez don’t get your panties in a twist.” he said lifting his black t-shirt over his head, feeling a dull ache in his right shoulder as he lifted. And when his arms came down he felt a sharp pain on his left side. He looked down at his own tanned skin and finally laid eyes on the damage of Keith’s rage. A large section of his skin about the length of his hand had turned deep shades of blue and purple over his ribcage.

Keith remained silent, eyes fixed on the mark as he unscrewed the lid of the container in his hand. He dipped two fingers into the substance and placed them gently onto the bruise on Lance’s skin. Lance tensed suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing. Despite the gentle touch, the spot was still sore,  and Keith’s hands were unexpectedly cold.

“Relax.” Keith breathed out, anger still lingering in his voice. His features remained stone cold, and his eyes never once moved from the wound as he applied the substance. 

“Lean forward.” 

Lance did as instructed, suddenly aware of the shrinking space between he and Keith. Their faces were only a few inches apart, Keith’s hovering higher above his. He could feel the smaller man’s steady breath on his face. His gray eyes were focused on Lance’s left shoulder as his fingers made contact with the bruise there. Lance however couldn’t quite convince himself to stop watching Keith as he worked, rubbing the cold substance into the dark skin of his shoulder. Somewhere in that cold expression, Lance could see empathy. He felt bad for hurting him… however deep down… he still felt it. Lance smiled, and for a moment their eyes met, and then Keith turned away. 

“Your shoulder is done, you can sit straight now… although that might be a little tough for you.” He said grabbing a thin gel ice pack from where he had left it on the couch.

“Wait… was that a gay joke?”   

“Hold this here.” Keith said placing the ice pack on the bruise on Lance’s ribs. Again Lance jumped at the sudden coldness on his bare skin, earning him a glare from mr. rich boy. 

Keith moved closer to Lance on the couch, a roll of what looked like bandages in his hand. He tucked the end of the roll under one of Lance’s fingers that was holding the ice pack in place. Then he leaned in and brought his arms around Lance’s torso, handing himself the bandages behind Lance’s back. He wrapped them around and around, leaning forward and back. Lance continued to watch as Keith worked. Taking care of him, he seemed to go very still, completely focused on his task. 

“You seem like an expert at this.” Lance said quietly, still gazing at the other man’s features. 

“I’ve dealt with some pretty nasty bruises.” Keith responded leaning in again, and when their faces were at their closest point, Lance asked,

“Why?” His breath hitting Keith’s face, causing him to look into Lance’s eyes. Now as they were closer, they seemed even more like sapphires. Sparkling in wonder, reflecting the dim lights, seemingly going on forever. Lance remained still, his features firm, radiating a confident sort of calm. Keith leaned back quickly forcing a scowl, his heart pounding way too hard for his comfort. 

“It’s none of your business creep.” Keith punctuated his sentence with a sharp tug at the bandages. Lance winced scrunching up his nose.

“Hey what do you mean creep?!”

“Don’t think I forgot that you fell asleep on me.”

“You fell asleep on me first!”

“Exactly! And you let me stay there! Then you fell asleep on me!” If keith’s hands weren’t too occupied securing the bandages, he was sure Lance would’ve already received another bruise on his right side to match the first. “Now put your damn shirt back on.” 

Lance’s black T-shirt hit him in in the chest as Keith gathered the stuff from the couch and disappeared once again into the hallway. 

Lance realized sitting there on the couch that he was in trouble. The moment he felt the smile spread across lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me some trouble, so I hope it isn't too bad... I wrote it very quickly, so if you spot any mistakes or anything, please point them out i'd very much appreciate it! Honestly I just love my dorky boys so it was all worth it. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to seeing your response.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Group projects are literal insanity. Keith and Lance would know...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! I am EXTREMELY sorry for the slow update, but It's finally done! This chapter is twice as long as usual to try and make up for the long wait. It was a lot of fun to write but pretty hard as well xD. 
> 
> WARNING: There is a very subtle reference to abuse in this chapter so if that bothers anyone you can just stop once you reach the line break immediately following the words "and worry about everything else when he awoke" and resume after the next line break. 
> 
> That is all my lovelies, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter <3  
> P.S. Read bottom notes afterwards for some bloopers from this chapter!
> 
> Love, Damari5

## Chapter Five

**(2) New Messages**

 

**From Pigeon:**

**_Hey babe_ **

 

**From Pigeon:**

**_Do u have any plans 4 halloween night?_ **

 

**To Pigeon:**

**_No_ **

 

**From Pigeon:**

**_Well then mark ur calendar, b/c ur coming 2 Lotor’s party w me._ **

 

**To Pigeon:**

**_No way in hell Katie_ **

 

**From Pigeon:**

**_Do it or I’ll tell Lysandra what u did 2 the blender @ work._ **

 

**To Pigeon:**

**_You wouldn’t fucking dare_ **

 

**From Pigeon:**

**_I absolutely fucking would._ **

 

**From Pigeon:**

**_Make sure to wear a costume._ **

  
  


Keith fell back in his bed, grunting as his back hit the mattress. Going to a party sounded like hell. Although he’s never been to one, Keith never had the desire to attend any. He just wouldn’t fit in with those people. Hell, he had never fit in with anyone in his life. Ever since he was little, he’s imagined that he lives in a glass cage. He could see all the people around him, hear them, but he couldn’t understand the things they said. He could never understand how easy it was for them to get out of bed. How easy it was to show weakness and share feelings. How easy it was for them to trust.

His dark eyes searched the ceiling as if he could find some solution to his problems in the bleakness of it. Like usual there was nothing there, just the suffocating reality pressing in his mind. At least he had two weeks of peace before the party… and two weeks to find a costume…

As Keith began to ponder the possibilities he felt his phone buzz somewhere in the bedsheets.

 

**(1) New Message**

 

**From: Unknown Number**

**_Cocaine?_ **

 

**To: Unknown Number**

**_No thanks_ **

 

**From: Unknown Number**

**_This is Keith isn’t it?_ **

 

**To: Unknown Number**

**_Who the hell is asking?_ **

 

**From: Unknown Number**

**_Yup that’s u… Pidge gave me ur #_ **

 

**From: Unknown Number**

**_Why weren’t u in class today?_ **

 

**To: Caramel Macchiato**

**_I’m sick_ **

 

Keith lied, explaining the reason would be too long and pointless of a conversation. Plus he didn’t expect Lance would understand it anyway.

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_Ew gross…_ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_Well anyway there’s a project and ur in a group with me… plus these two girls Ezor and Zethrid?_ **

 

**To: Caramel Macchiato**

**_The fuck kinda names are those?_ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_The fuck kinda name is Keith?_ **

 

**To: Caramel Macchiato**

**_Keith is a normal fucking name_ **

 

**From:** **Caramel Macchiato**

**_Uh huh … anyway I’ll talk to them and then get back to you so we can figure out when to do this thing… ttyl quiche_ **

 

Rolling his eyes, Keith let the phone slip from his hand onto the mattress. Just one conversation with Lance, and like that his energy was completely drained. Pulling the covers up to his chin, Keith pressed himself up against his pillow and closed his eyes. He decided that he’d take a nap now and worry about everything else when he awoke. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“Dawon and I are going to the store okay Keith? You’ll stay with pop alright?” The woman spoke to Keith in a different language, but it was one he knew, and when Keith spoke back, he spoke it too. His voice was much smaller, and his legs much shorter. He stared up at the woman with big eyes, begging. Pleading.

He remembered this feeling all too well. 

“Can’t I come with you Ryo?” He asked, his voice small.

“No child, you must stay with Jae in case he needs help.”

Keith looked up at the man. He smiled down at the boy who was trembling in quiet fear, and grabbed his hand.

“Don’t worry Ryo my love, Keith and I are going to get some important work done today. Right Keith?.”

His calloused hand gripped tighter to the boy’s small pale one. 

There were many words Keith wanted to say. He wanted to yell and cry and scream, but instead he just watched the woman and the small girl turn away and walk through the threshold. 

_ Please don’t leave  _ Keith silently pleaded,  _ Don’t leave me with him again.  _ But he knew well that these silent screams were never heard. Whatever god that helped others seemed to have given up on him a long time ago. Just like everyone did.  _ Don’t leave me. _

With empty eyes, Keith watched as the door clicked shut.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Keith... It’s me... It’s Adam.”

When his gray eyes shot open they were immediately met with warm brown ones staring back. The room was dark. Keith blinked realizing that he must have slept into the night. It had to be at least eight o’clock for Adam to have returned home from work.

“A… Adam?”

“Are you okay?” He looked the boy up and down from where he now sat up in his bed, worry painted over his soft features. 

“Yeah… Yeah I'm fine.” Keith said urging power into his voice to keep it from breaking. Adam’s gentle hands gripped his shoulders firmly within their grasp. He looked into Keith’s eyes once again, studying every detail. 

“Okay,” he said softly releasing his grip from the boy’s shoulders. 

They both sat in silence for a moment just breathing, then Adam spoke again.

“Someone left something for you at the front desk,” he said glancing over at Keith’s dresser, “whatever it is, it smells good so you better finish it before Takashi gets home. He’ll devour it in a second.” 

Adam stood slowly from the bed and ruffled Keith’s messy hair with a smile. He started to leave, but stopped right before the door, turning his head to look at the boy from over his shoulder.

“You’re safe Keith… Just remember that you’re safe.” With another solemn smile, he disappeared through the doorway.

 

It had been a long time since he had had a nightmare. Months probably. Usually it was Shiro he’d wake up to, holding him close to his body until he woke up, or calmed down. Even when it was really bad, and Keith punched and kicked in panic, Shiro held him close all the same. Adam wasn’t quite as used to his episodes, but he handled it well. Keith felt his chest warm remembering his words.

He stood up carefully from his bed as to not get dizzy, and padded bare feet over to his dresser where a paper bag sat on top of a thin gel ice pack. Carefully he opened the bag and reached a hand inside, pulling out a small slip of paper. 

 

_ You can’t die until after we finish the project, so get better Asshole.  _

 

Keith reached another hand into the bag to pull out a large thermos. He screwed open the cap and peered inside. Steam drifted out of the container, bringing the delicious smell up to his nostrils. Soup. It was chicken noodle soup.

It could've been left over from his nightmare, or a delayed reaction to Adam’s kind words, or maybe it was something else, but he felt his heart stop for a moment. Carefully, he picked up the stupid note once again, just in time for it to catch a single tear that fell from his smiling face. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


The cafe was busy, unlike Keith had ever seen it before. There were people filling in almost every seat, and the whole room was buzzing with conversation. There were at least three workers behind the counter, none of which were Lance. 

“Keith over here!” Pidge’s voice rang out from where they sat last time. Hunk and Lance were both already sitting side by side on one of the couches, and Pidge across from them on another. She patted the spot next to her, and Keith sat down taking note of the coffee cup in front of him on the table. 

“It’s yours.” Pidge said to him, as if she somehow read his mind. He picked up the cup frowning at the word “Kleet” scribbled on it in black marker.  _ Idiot _ , he thought, it wasn’t even spelled correctly. Glaring in Lance’s direction he took a sip, only receiving a wink in return. 

“Okay now that we’re all here, let’s get down to business,” the girl said leaning forward, “Lotor’s halloween party is happening in two weeks and we need costume ideas.” 

“I say we go as the power rangers.” Hunk began quickly.

“But then we’re all exactly the same except different colors.” Pidge scrunched her nose in disapproval.

“Yeah exactly, I thought you wanted us to match?”

“I want them to go together, but they don’t have to be exactly the same.”

“Wait,” Keith cut in looking confused and somewhat ticked off, “Why the hell do our costumes have to match?”

“Because Keith,” she began “If we’re going as a group, our costumes should go together, we can’t just walk in there like a bunch of uncoordinated peasants… we’re not animals.”

“I got it!” Lance exclaimed loudly from his spot on the couch. 

Pidge motioned a hand for him to go on.“We’re listening.” 

“We should all go as Spiderman and point at each other.”  

“That’s the stupidest fucking idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Clearly you haven’t seen your mullet.” Lance leaned in closer from across the coffee table, a challenging smirk dancing across his freckled cheeks.

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Keith copied the other boys movement, leaning forward and meeting his challenging stare.

“Whatever asshole.” He let his back relax back into the couch.

“I just said we shouldn’t all look exactly the same.”

“Then what do you suggest Pidge?” Lance said with biting spite, yet it was obvious to everyone it was all in good fun.

“What about Scooby Doo?”

“Hmm… yeah that could work.” Lance said carefully as if still weighing the options, “Pidge, you can be Velma, Hunk is shaggy, and I’ll by Fred.”

“What’re you talking about Lance?” Hunk sat forward, “You’re obviously Shaggy.”

“Wha- no I’m not… Pidge am I Shaggy?”

The little one nodded her head.

“Well fine whatever, then I’ll be Shaggy and Hunk is Fred.”

“Who’s Keith then?”

“Keith is Daphne.”

“Fucking hell.” Keith threw his hands in the air, his words quiet and exasperated. He reached for his drink and began chugging it.

The other boy snickered. “Well than what do you suggest we wear?”

He placed his coffee back down, now half empty. They all stared at him waiting for a suggestion. “Fuck, I don’t know… what about… Avatar?”

Lance’s eyebrows raised. “That… that’s not actually a bad idea…”

“Thank you.”

“Okay perfect!,” Pidge cut in standing up. She pointed a short finger at each of them in turn as she spoke, “Hunk, you’re Bolin… Lance, you’re Sokka… Keith you’re Zuko...  and I’ll be Toph.” She finished, pointing a thumb at herself.

They all exchanged glances and head nods for a moment, and then reached for their drinks. 

“Oh!,” Lance broke the silence, “That means Allura can be Princess Yue!”

“Allura?” Keith questioned. He had never heard the name before, and Pidge had never mentioned her.

“She used to be in our friend group,” she started, “but once she started dating Lotor she stopped hanging out with us… So Lance, I assume she’ll be dressing up with Lotor… it is his party after all.”

“Lance has a massive crush on her.” Hunk chimed from next to the freckled boy, “He spent two weeks last year figuring out how to ask her out, only to get turned down in a few seconds.” 

“Yeah,” Pidge joined, “He bought her a necklace and everything.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” He retorted, “Allura’s smart enough to realize Lotor is a scumbag… plus I’m over it anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” He looked down at the ground for a few moments, his eyes tired and his trademark smirk melting until his lips formed a straight line, and then he lifted his head with a smile as if it never happened and added, “Now does anyone need a ride or are you all good?”

Hunk stood up from his seat. “I’m good, I’ll meet you back at the dorm?”

“Yup”

“Yeah I’m good too. Keith and I actually have the next shift at work so I’m gonna get going. You should leave now too Keith.”

“Yeah I’m right behind you.” He said, watching as she followed Hunk out the door. Keith finally stood up and turned back towards the table. Lance was gathering all of the mugs, a very plain look on his face. Usually he was making some obnoxious expression or screaming, but left alone to his work, he was uncharacteristically quiet. 

“You wanted to talk about the project right?”

“Hm?” he looked up from the table, picking up a fourth mug as the others shifted in his arms, “Oh yeah. So I talked to those two girls and they said the only day they’re able to work on it is Thursday.” He winced as he straightened. 

“But the project is due Friday.”

“Yeah I know, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to let them get away without doing anything so-”

“So we meet early in the morning and grind our asses off and hope it’s enough time?”

“Basically yeah.”

“Okay well… Text me as soon as you know the time and place.”

“Sure.” He said turning away from him.

Keith followed Lance to the counter as he handed off the mugs to one of the workers.

“So… how are your ribs?”

“Huh?”

“The bruise?”

“Oh… It’s fine, I can’t even feel it.”

Keith raised his eyebrows at the tan boy, looking at him from his converse all the way to his black long sleeve shirt, freezing at the spot he knew the bruise would still be more than visible. Flicking his eyes up to Lance’s he said, “Liar.”

“I’m not lyi- ughh shit!” Keith’s arm came around and planted a firm smack to his side. The other boy hissed bringing a hand up to cover the spot. 

“You should let me look at it again,” Keith said coldly as if assessing a soldier’s wounds, “You could’ve cracked a rib.”

Lance snorted. “You’re giving yourself too much credit Kogane… If you’re worried about me, you could just ask if it hurts.”

“I’m not worried.” His words were still cold, but this time there was a bite to them. As if he were disgusted at the thought of having even an ounce of empathy for him.

Lance raised an eyebrow, trying to read more into his blank expression for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll text you when I know more about the project.” 

Then he turned away, and walked through the buzzing coffee shop, and out the door, leaving Keith alone to mind his business. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Ass in the morning was when Lance told him to meet him and the two other girls (which he had forgotten the names of) at the library. Saying that Keith wasn’t a morning person was an understatement. He power walked through the apartment with such ferocity that it must’ve woken Shiro and Adam, because they both strolled out of their bedroom looking disheveled and confused. 

Disregarding them completely Keith ran from room to room in nothing but his boxers, a toothbrush hanging from his mouth. At some point Shiro had asked him why he was stalking about the apartment half naked, at which Keith practically bit his head off. He had tugged on a pair of ripped jeans and an old sweater, and threw on what he was pretty sure were a pair of Adam’s old converse. 

He was half way out the door when a firm hand caught his elbow.

“Keith.”

“Didn’t I already say that I-” Keith whipped around to look at Shiro, whose face only looked at him softly. In his arms he balanced a to go cup of coffee and an apple.

The smaller boy let out a sigh and grabbed the breakfast from him. 

“Thank you.” 

Shiro nodded, his black hair catching the light from the morning sun. Funny, Keith thought, the way it caught the light, some of his hair almost looked white.

“You might also want to put your hair up.” he winked and Keith allowed a small smirk to slip through.

He yelled his goodbye’s to them both as he finally closed the door.

  
  


The library wasn’t quite as large as he imagined. Lance must’ve avoided the main library so that it wouldn’t be too crowded, which to his credit, it wasn’t. 

Shelves that were too tall for any human to reach lined the walls and took up about a third of the library. The rest was occupied by wooden tables with old musty looking lamps, and couches that looked like they were too old to be standing. If Keith had a grandmother to remember, he imagined that her house would have this sort of atmosphere, warm, ancient, and producing a smell that wasn’t exactly bad but not great either. 

 

Lance was stationed at one of the tables, hunched over a stack of papers, looking a pen drop away from tearing someone’s face off. He didn’t exactly seem approachable, but Keith figured he didn’t have any other choice.

“Heard anything from the girls yet?” he asked as he strolled up next to him.

Lance sat back in the chair with a creak and ran his long fingers through the short strands of his hair. His black sweatshirt looked at least two sizes too big, hanging from his wrists as he stretched. Keith stared into his eyes, the color popping thanks to the damn sweatshirt. The tired pissy look on his face seemed to scream the words  _ fuck off _ .

“Yeah about that... They message earlier and-” Their eyes locked, and Lance stopped short, his features remaining firm. A few seconds of silence went by, and Keith began to feel awkward with Lance staring into his soul.

“and what Lance?” he asked impatiently.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

“Does it matter?” Keith placed his bag down on the floor and sat down across from the other boy.

“No, you just don’t seem the type…”

“Well since we had to be here so goddamn early I didn’t have time to put contacts in.”

“No it’s fine... I like them. Between those and that sweater, you almost look friendly.” 

Keith supposed it was a compliment. However, coming from Lance, it was just weird. 

“So…” Keith started, “the girls?”

“Ah yes,” he began in a chipper tone, “Ezor and Zethrid. Or should I call them Ponytail bitch and the other fucking wench who cancelled on us.”

“Cancelled?” Keith asked his tone darkening, “But isn’t the project due tomorrow?”

“YUP!” Lance threw his hands in the air blowing a few papers around on the desk in front of him. 

The library went still, and as Keith glanced around he felt all of their tiny glaring eyes on him. One boy in particular with curly blonde hair actually had the audacity to tell Lance to shut up. Both of their heads whipped around so fast the boy jumped back. 

Gray and Blue, apparently they were quite the force to be reckoned with. From the sheer intensity of Keith and Lance’s glares combined, the boy fell from his seat, dropping all of his books. He squeaked pitifully as he gathered his stuff and retreated behind the safety of the bookcases. 

Keith felt the intensity of Lance’s gaze before he met it. Despite the aggravating situation, the moment their eyes met again, they chuckled.

“Think he pissed himself back there?” Lance’s eyes sparkled.

“Oh yeah definitely.” 

They chuckled some more, quietly, as to not repeat the same situation. Then Lance let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“We have to do this whole thing by ourselves.”

“Yeah I kinda figured… what is it exactly that we’re doing?”

Lance looked up at Keith somewhat judgingly.

“Basically we have to make a criminal profile for this guy named…” he picked up one of the papers from the table in front of him and turned it around trying to decipher what he wrote, “David Berkowitz?”

“Sounds simple enough.”   
Lance let out an exasperated laugh, “Uh huh… minimum of twenty pages, but that includes crime scene pictures, plus the police sketch which i’m leaving in your hands for obvious reasons… should be a piece of cake.”

“It’s our only option isn’t it?” Keith pointed out.

“What’s got Mr. Emo so optimistic?”

“I’m not being optimistic, we just don’t seem to have time to waste on getting angry.” he deflected, grabbing for some of the papers to get busy. As he looked it over he could feel Lance’s stillness, making him uneasy. He looked up to find the freckled boy staring at him.

Lance hesitated. “Are you okay?” 

“Just do your damn work Lance.”

  
  


They set their laptops up so that the backs of the screens were practically touching, and began researching, and typing, and losing all grip on sanity and the concept of time. What felt like an eternity later, they decided to take a break for “lunch.” Which was really just a bunch of junk food from the vending machine outside and two bottles of what Keith had called: “Leafy fruit juice,” whatever that meant. He said so wearing the stank face of the century. Apparently the vending machine iced tea wasn’t up to his standards. Lance figured that he was used to obnoxiously expensive things with the apartment he lives in… so the “commoners tea” must’ve been a challenge for his high maintenence ass. 

They worked and ate, and then worked some more. As the hours went by they became more frantic, realizing that if they didn’t work  faster they’d be in for another all nighter. The library dimmed, as the sun set, and the amount of people slowly dwindled. It must’ve been around seven o’clock when Lance mentioned dinner. Keith pitifully agreed standing up slowly and they gathered their stuff. A quick break for food, and then they’ll finish it out after. 

 

Lance had taken them to some small diner a few minutes away. He parked the car without a word and beckoned for Keith to follow him into the building. When they walked in, they were greeted with warm lights and a gentle buzz from the few patrons dining. It was small and cozy much like the cafe, and it may have been from being stuck in the musty library for almost eight hours straight, but the place smelled heavenly. They sat down across from each other in a small booth on the side wall. The seat was worn and the table creaked as they shimmied into the booth. Overall it was comfortably used, if not a little shabby. 

The hanging lamp cast dancing shadows across their features as Lance gazed across the table at the other boy. Looking at him then it was hard to believe he was the Keith who screamed and pinned him against the lockers on the first day of class. The same motorcycle driving, rib crusher. His expression was tired and his demeanor quiet. 

“Didn’t know you had piercings either.” Lance said glancing at Keith’s ears that were exposed now that his hair was pulled back in a ponytail. There were multiple piercings going up the side of each ear, most in the form of small silver hoops. 

Keith looked up from under his bangs, “Guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” 

“Consider me intrigued.” Lance drawled, quirking up an eyebrow, “Tell me something I don’t already know about you.”

Any other time, Keith probably would’ve refused, but after spending an eternity in the library talking with Lance about the project, he was desperate to talk about ANYTHING else. He assumed that the feeling was mutual as he stared into the other boy’s curious eyes.

“What do you want to know?” There wasn’t anything interesting enough to share that he could think of.

“Anything… like you said… there’s a lot I don’t know about you.”

Keith rolled his eyes and let out a huff of air, “Okay well... I’m lactose intolerant?”

“But… you just ordered a strawberry milkshake.”

“And?”

If Keith wasn’t mistaken, the way Lance’s eyes widened, it looked as though he was sincerely concerned about his health and well being. “Keith?!”

“What?”

“Won’t you like, die if you drink that?!”

“Hopefully.” He breathed as he eyed the waiter emerging from the kitchen with their meals in hand. Keith could feel Lance’s gaze boring into him as the food and drinks were placed in front of them. They both thanked the waiter with kind, tired smiles. He sensed the movement before he saw exactly what was happening, and before Keith knew it, his strawberry milkshake was clasped in Lance’s stupidly flawless fingers.

“Lance what the fuck?!”

“Nuh uh, nope, no way in hell you’re drinking this.”

“I swear to god Lance if you don’t give me that milkshake I will-”   
“NO!” he screeched, “Was I not clear the first time?! You’re not allowed to die until AFTER we finish this god forsaken project!” 

Once again Keith could feel the eyes of the other customers on them, and he took his time staring down every one of them with undying hellfire in his eyes. Then he snapped them back at Lance.

“I will eviscerate you.”

“Yeah yeah, big scary words, I get it. Just eat your food.” 

“Not until you give me my milkshake back you asshole.”

“Listen, after tonight, I will buy you a strawberry milkshake from every damn place that has it, but you can’t drink this one.”

His face slowly morphed into an expression Lance assumed wasn’t one he would see very often, as Keith picked up his burger to take a bite he saw a glimmer of defeat in his gray eyes.

He mumbled a string of particularly foul curses under his breath as Lance slid him his sprite to replace the drink he stole.

For a while they didn’t speak, too focused on devouring their food to make conversation. It was only when they had both finished their burgers and Lance was obnoxiously slurping the remnants of Keith’s stolen milkshake that the smaller boy jeered.

“So is everyone in your family an asshole, or is it just you?”

“Well, “ Lance began, clanking the empty glass down against the table, “The twins are basically demons if they decide they want to provoke you, and you met Dani AKA Satan herself already, but besides that, we’re a pretty average family I’d say.”

Average. Keith wasn’t exactly sure what he should imagine the average family to be. And as much as the topic made Keith feel completely distanced and uncomfortable, he couldn’t stop the questions from leaving his mouth. Nor could he stop himself from listening so intently to Lance’s every word.

“How many siblings do you have?” he hesitated.

Lance’s eyes seemed to light up even more if that was even possible.

“There’s seven of us including me. Four boys and three girls. I’m the third oldest.”

Keith nodded in response, taken back by just how large Lance’s family is.

“What about you? How many siblings do you have?”

Keith fidgeted in his seat realizing the hole he practically dug himself into. 

“I just have the one brother.”

“Do you get along well?”

“Yeah… yeah we get along really well... Unlike you and the twins I’m guessing. Demons did you call them?” He quickly changed the subject.

“Most of the time they’re behaved, at least until they decide to make your life a living hell.”

“Go on.” keith pushed, curiosity getting the better of him.

Lance sighed loudly, “Well one time, Sam dumped an entire pitcher of ice water on my head and ran to his room for safety. So of course I chased him because there was no way I wasn’t going to beat the hell out of him.”

“Understandable.”

“But when I sprinted through the doorway to his room, my face hit the Saran Wrap that Sophie set up and I of course got clotheslined onto the ground,” he paused, “except that’s not the end of it no… You see I was knocked out cold from slamming my head into the floor. And while I was unconscious, the demons drew a dick on my face and left me there to die… And when I woke up, I was wrapped in a blanket.”

The only response he got was repressed giggles from the boy across him, trying to hide his face with his hands.

“Someone saw me out cold on the hardwood floor, soaking wet, a penis on my face, and decided to put A FUCKING BLANKET ON ME.”

Keith howled with laughter from his seat, tears forming in his shining eyes. If that is what was considered an average family, he definitely had been missing out on some good stories.

“Those kids are my heroes.” he wheezed clutching his stomach.

Lance tried really hard to be angry at his mocking, but all he could see was Keith’s smile, and all he could hear was the complete and utter joy like that of a giggling toddler. Somehow when the man across from him smiled, the whole world disappeared, and Lance was afraid to even consider what that could mean. He wouldn’t even give himself time to finish the thought. 

“I’ll go pay the bill upfront.”

“No.. no, wait.” Keith interrupted between chuckles, “Let me pay.”

“No it’s alright I got it.”

“Lance I’m paying.”

“You sure?”

“Tell me more of those stories and I’ll buy your every meal.”

Lance looked him up and down and clicked his tongue. “Tch… rich bastard.”

“You’re welcome.” Keith taunted walking up to the register. 

Lance took a deep breath, and then two more, watching as Keith politely smiled at the woman up front, but it wasn’t the same smile as a few moments ago. This one was fake, only for common courtesy. Lance saw his face again in his mind, practically lit up like a Christmas tree, tears in his gray eyes. The grin that made him question who Keith truly was, because he had no idea the grump was even capable of looking so bright.

“What’s with the face?” Keith’s voice interrupted Lance’s thoughts as he strolled back up from the register.

“Oh… uh It’s nothing… Ready to go?”

Keith nodded, and Lance could’ve sworn he saw the slightest tint of pink in the boy’s pale cheeks. 

  
  


They reluctantly returned to the library, now with a dwindling number of people. It was about nine o’clock, they must’ve talked in the diner for a lot longer than Keith had realized. They set up shop at one of the tables again, their laptops back to back, but this time it felt different. The air felt warmer, and silence was comfortable. 

 

12:00 AM

By twelve am everyone had cleared out leaving the two boys alone in the musty room. That’s about when Lance broke the silence of the library.

“Hey I’m going to get a soda from the vending machines. Do you want anything?”

“Death.”

“I’ll take that as a no, I’ll be right back.”

With that he disappeared through the doors, leaving Keith alone. He sat back in his chair and stretched as far back as he could, his chair creaking over the low sound that escaped him. A few more hours and they should be done. The boy leaned forward once again to begin typing, but just as his fingers moved to hover over the keys a piercing shriek boomed from outside. Keith was standing and moving towards the door in a second, leaving caution to the wind.

Right before he could reach the threshold, Lance burst through the door. His face drained of color and his eyes open so wide Keith was worried they’d pop out. He only caught a whiff of Lance’s cologne hitting him as the boy grabbed him by the arm and cowered behind him.

“What the hell Lance?!”

He side eyed the boy gripping to him so hard he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d left a bruise.

“Keith there’s something out there.” 

Keith studied his eyes for a moment, contemplating the consequences that may come with punching him right in the freckled face. 

“Lance.” he growled, “get THE HELL off of me.”

Lance softened his grip on the other boy’s wrist but didn’t release it.

“Explain.” Keith deadpanned.

“Something fucking screeched out there, and we are leaving this godforsaken library right now.”

“Like hell we are.” Keith spat.

“I am not staying here with the fucking vending machine demon coming for my ass!” 

“It was probably just some rowdy kid or something.”

“This late at night?”

“An owl?”

“No, Keith. I know what I heard… or I guess… I know what I didn’t hear.”

“Can we please just get back to work? Like two more solid hours and we could be finished… We don’t have time for this.”

“Okay Keith I hear you but… YOU CAN’T TELL ME THAT WASN’T A GHOST.”

Keith ripped his hand away from the other boy’s grasp, “Fine I’ll prove it to you.”

He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a knife and casually flicked it open.

Lance eyed his hand holding the blade and then trailed his gaze up to Keith’s eyes.

“You had time to grab a knife but not enough time to put your contacts in?”

“Just shut the hell up and follow me.”

Lance followed cautiously as Keith stalked to the door, practically holding his breath. Placing a pale hand on it, Keith glanced behind him at Lance reassuringly before slowly pushing the door open with a creek. As scared as he was, Lance couldn’t help but let a small piece of him appreciate Keith’s silent reassurance. He watched as the boy crept out there with lethal stealth, his knife angled to fight. Lance wasn’t exactly sure he wanted to know how and where Keith had learned to handle that thing. The vending machine groaned which Lance was already expecting, but then he felt an empty hand slap onto his chest pushing him back. He hissed, his now yellow bruise aching at the impact.

Keith cursed under his breath, his knife raised up in defense. Lance realized the machine must’ve scared him, and his adrenaline kicked in.

“Did you just protect me?”

A piercing glare.

“Stay here.”

Keith moved to stand out in front of the machine. The sky was dark and twinkling with stars, casting shadows down through the trees around the building. There was nothing to be heard besides the gentle buzz of insects and the humming of the machines. He looked back at Lance and threw his hands up, “There’s nothing out here, now can we get back to working?” he started to move back towards the door when he stopped dead in his tracks.

Scratching, he could hear scratching.

He turned towards the vending machine. Lance tensed and stared as Keith knelt down on the ground to peer under the large object.

“Do… Do you see anything?”

Without a word the other boy slipped his knife back in his pocket, stood up, and grabbed the machine by the corners. He pulled hard eliciting a loud screech as it shifted on the cement, widening the gap between the vending machine and the wall. 

“Jesus Christ what are you doing?” Lance cringed at the sound.

“Little feet.” was all Keith provided as an explanation as he bent down and reached behind the machine. When he stood he cradled a small ball of black fluff in his arms.

“Is that a fucking cat?!”

“Uhhh…” Keith started, big doe eyes examining the creature, “yeah?”

“What the hell?! How did it even get back there?”

“I know as much as you do Lance.”

“Well, what’re we going to do?” 

Keith stared down at the thing in his arms. It was small, but too large to be a kitten, and it had the most brilliant golden eyes, so bright they glowed in the darkness of the night. And it was all alone. Keith stroked a thumb through it’s midnight fur. It didn’t seem scared of him in the slightest, so it must’ve belonged to someone. 

“We’re going to finish this fucking project, and then I’ll deal with this in the morning.”

“What the hell do you mean-”

“Grab your soda and let’s go.”

  
  


1:30 AM

The library was so quiet. So unbearably fucking silent that Lance was going to lose it. After coming back inside from their ghost hunt, the cat fell asleep quickly on Keith’s lap purring peacefully. After a while he place the sleeping animal on one of the couches while he worked, acting as though he wasn’t fond of the thing. 

Lance pulled his phone from his pocket, sighing at just how late it was. At this rate, he’d fall asleep before they were able to finish anything. He gazed over at the other man’s features. His dark circles paired with his paper-white skin made him look like he was dead. Lance figured exhaustion must be taking its toll on him as well. 

“Keith?”

“Hm?”

“Do you mind if I put on some music? The silence is killing me.”

“Sure... “ he said pausing to raise a tired eyebrow at the freckled man. “Just nothing cringey.”

Lance tapped shuffle on one of his playlists, not really caring what it was that would fill the silence of the room, as long as it was there. 

Keith snarled up at Lance the moment the first words of the song echoed in the empty space.

_ “Me gusta mi reggae.” _

“What the hell is this?” Keith snapped.

“Too late you already said okay.” With the notes ringing in his ears, he realized he wasn’t exactly exhausted, but more so, in dire need of entertainment.

“I said nothing cringey.” 

“What was that I can’t hear you?” Lance chidded turning the volume up until it was at its max.

“Lance.” A warning, gray eyes shooting daggers at him. 

The freckled boy slinked out of his chair and moved his hips slowly, a devilish grin taking shape on his face. 

“Cuando yo la vi!” Lance’s voice mingled with that of the music.

“Please stop.”

“Dije, "Si esa mujer fuera para mí"

“Is this fucking Daddy Yankee?”

Lance wasn’t hearing a word, and if he did, he was ignoring them. He pointed at Keith as he sang the notes and swayed smoothly on the floor, serenading the other boy from a safe distance. That is until the chorus kicked in.

He knew every word, and punctuated each beat with sharp movements. Each repetition of the word “Dura” was one step and roll of the hips closer.. Until he was climbing up a chair to stand on the table next to their own. 

Keith rested his forehead on one of his hands, completely humiliated, but he couldn’t help but peer at the crackhead on the table through his fingers. 

The man went from zero to one hundred as the first verse fired from the phone. His hands rested somewhere between his legs and his hips as he rolled them in circles, his shit eating grin still plastered across his face. Then he took a step towards the edge and Keith actually got scared for him.

One smooth leap and Lance’s feet were planted on the table, mischievous eyes locking on Keith’s horrified ones. He took a step back, but in one fluid motion Lance had stolen his hand. Keith felt his face heat up. Whether it was from embarrassment, rage, or something else… he refused to think about it. Crouching down to meet his small hand, Lance brought it to his lips for a moment before locking eyes with the other boy, his voice singing over the music once again.

“'Tá poderosa, media escandalosa. Habrán muchas mujeres pero tú eres otra cosa.” 

And then he fucking winked one of those eyes made of sapphire.

Keith felt his blood run cold, the music still thundering in their ears. Then as he stared into the other boys eyes, a smug grin spread slowly across Lance’s stupid face.

Keith tore his hand from Lance’s long fingers. 

The little fucker continued to dance and serenade him from his spot on the table. 

No way he was getting away with that shit. No way in hell.

Keith’s hand found itself on the shelf, his slim fingers wrapping around a book.

“Fucking pervert!” He barked chucking a book at his dumb head.

Luckily for Lance he saw the attack and ducked just in time to feel the breeze of the object soar over his head. 

Slowly he turned his head, his deep blue eyes opened wide. 

And then he jumped.

Flying across the library so fast keith couldn’t help but be slightly impressed despite his anger. But that wasn’t going to get Lance out of this one. No way. Keith sprinted behind him faster in speed, a book in each hand. Lance Mcclain was a dead man. He reeled back for another shot and sent the book hurtling towards the other man catching him in the shoulder where Keith knew he was still bruised.

Lance hissed stumbling “Jesus fuck Keith!”

And then Keith released the other book from his hand, flying straight into the back of Lance’s stupidly long legs.

Lance hit the ground with a hollow “THUD” and a loud string of curses both in english and what Keith now recognized as spanish. Although he had no idea what the words meant he assumed they were nasty. 

Satisfied, Keith turned to walk back towards the table but as he took the first few steps he heard a low chuckle which then turned into bellowing laugh.

“Okay.” Lance conceded sitting up looking winded and disheveled, but happy nonetheless, “I think we both have enough energy to finish now.” 

Keith turned away as Lance stood up and brushed himself off, the distant sound of music echoing from wherever it was that the phone ended up. 

The motherfucker risked his life for a bit of entertainment.  _ Idiot. _ He thought a smile forcing its way onto his lips as he gazed down at the floor.

He tried hard to sound angry through his grin but gave up after he heard Lance’s footsteps trotting up behind him, 

“I really hate you.” he laughed.

  
  
  


2: 30

By two thirty Lance had finally finished typing. The only thing that occupied his thoughts was that they better get a fucking one thousand on the damn project. An A++++++++++. And those backstabbing rat women should get nothing short of a zero with a very fowl letter attached explaining to them all the reasons that they have personalities worse than sewage soaked trash. 

He stretched back in his chair and yawned, his mouth wide and his eyes heavy. All he had to do now was wait for Keith to finish the police sketch, and then they were home free. 

“You finish?” The other boy looked up from his sketchbook, his gray eyes looking droopy.

“Yup, all done. Finished. The end. El Fin.”

“Someone’s tired.” The cat that had now returned to his lap purred sleepily.

“You’re one to talk… you’re practically sleep sketching.”

“Still better than anything you could do I’m sure.”

“Yeah.” Lance agreed, too tired to fight any longer. He crossed his arms over the table and rested his head on them, fixing his eyes on the boy across from him. Lance blinked slowly, watching the pencil move about in fluid strokes. Each one adding to the overall picture that began to take perfect form. It was truly unbelievable, and the fact Keith was allowing him to watch was even more so. 

Lance had to stifle a giggle realizing that he had kissed the hand holding that pencil not even an hour ago. It was all in good fun of course, but he couldn’t help but feel almost a little proud. He had his lips on the hand that created such beautiful art… even if that hand belonged to Keith of all people.

 

A few minutes went by after Lance had put his head down, and he was already asleep. Keith knew due to the  sudden snoring resonating within the silent room. It was quiet, but still annoying as all hell, although he did appreciate not having to sit alone in complete silence. Even with the asshole asleep,there was no way he was risking music again. Remembering the night’s events, Keith felt his cheeks begin to heat up. 

As much as Keith would rather gouge his eyes out than admit it, he was an amazing dancer. His movements were fluid, and for a long gangly thing, he knew how to move his body. Not to mention Lance could actually sing. In spanish. And really well at that. 

Keith gazed at his face, squished up against the sleeves of his oversized black sweatshirt. His hair was tousled and messy, falling in wisps across his tanned forehead. Long black eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, as he shifted, his breath became silent.

Keith’s eyes darted back down at his paper realizing he was staring again like some creep. 

He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes that he was scared would be permanently blurry after tonight.

Lance Mcclain was just some asshole he happened to have to spend some time with.

A maybe semi attractive one. He’s obnoxious and stupid and not interested, and he is an asshole. Keith tried his best to push any and all other thoughts about the guy out of his mind. It was just easier that way.

  
  


At three AM Lance awoke to a very tired and extremely grumpy Keith poking at his face with a pen. He had already put all of the stuff away, including Lance’s laptop, and was whining loudly for him to wake up. They were both more than happy to leave the godforsaken library and never return again.

  
  


Lance finally arrived at the dorm thirty minutes later. He would’ve gotten home a lot faster if he hadn’t had to drop the cat off at Keith’s place because Keith didn’t know if the animal was “motorcycle safe,” as he had put it. So after Keith had parked the motorcycle he took the cat from Lance and hid it in his backpack until he made it upstairs to his apartment. If Lance weren’t so tired he would’ve asked him what he planned to do with the thing, but frankly he was too exhausted to care. 

They barely said half a word to each other as a goodbye as they parted ways. Both of them knowing that they’d be seeing each other again soon enough anyway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOPS  
> (As in things that aren't actually part of the story)  
> (Take a peek into my literal insanity as I write this fic)
> 
>  
> 
> “So are you going to tell me why we’re having breakfast so early in the morning… or are you just going to continue to stare at me with those creepy smiles the whole time?” Keith glared across the table at the two men, his exhaustion adding an extra bite of spite to his words.  
> They had woken him up at ass in the morning, claiming that they wanted to take him out to breakfast before class. Keith of course refused and tried to go back to sleep, but apparently that wasn’t an option. He barely had enough time to throw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before getting ushered out the door.  
> And now here he was looking like some jobless bum sitting across from two well dressed space engineers wearing a pair of dopey smiles.  
> “Sorry for dragging you out of bed so early in the morning.” Adam began, his finger stroking his mug of coffee slowly. “It’s just been awhile since we’ve all spent some quality time together…So I thought we could grab some breakfast and you know… talk…”  
> “Talk?” Keith asked, disapproval resounding in his voice.  
> “Yeah, actually there’s something that Takeshi and I have been discussing, and we wanted to talk with you about it.”  
> “We didn’t want you to freak out too bad, so we thought someplace busy might be best.” Shiro added, worry coating his usually firm words.  
> Keith studied both of their faces, his heart beating harder in his chest. He only hoped that neither of them were hurt.  
> “Spit it out already.” Keith barked.  
> Both men across the table exchanged glances, and then nodded their heads in unison.  
> “Okay here it goes… “ Shiro began, visibly letting out a long breath as Keith held his.  
> “Keith I’m…”  
> “You’re what Shiro?” Keith said too quietly, the many terrible possibilities swirling around his mind like a storm.  
> “I’m pregnant.”  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> “I hate you both.”
> 
> * * *
> 
> Group chat: Forensics Group  
> Members: you and UNRELIABLE LYING SHIT MUNCHING BITCH, NASTY WENCH WHO FUCKED ME OVER LIKE HITTING A DEER AND LEAVING IT TO DIE.
> 
> * * *
> 
> “I will eviscerate you.”  
> “Yeah yeah, I’m so scared of little Keefy… what’re you gonna do stab my knees?”  
> The loud bang of Keith’s fist against the table resonated throughout the small diner. Many patrons jumped, and some whispered nervously to each other, most likely anticipating a fight to break out. And by the way Keith’s eyes burned, they weren’t too far off.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Long were the hours that they spent working, exhaustion silencing the large room. Around one thirty, Keith had begun the police sketch of their serial killer. Two am was when Lance finally finished the written part of the project, and silently watched Keith sketch for as long as he could steal a glance. It was entrancing. The way his small hand flicked the pencil across the page, creating seemingly mindless strokes until it came together perfectly.  
> “Wasn’t quite the looker was he?”  
> A sad chuckle, “Lance I don’t know what you mean, he was hot.”  
> Lance laughed and then Keith mimicked the sound. This must’ve been what it was like to go borderline insane.  
> “Why don’t you print the rest of it, I should be done this soon.” Keith yawned.  
> “Aye aye captain.”
> 
> * * *
> 
> So that's it for the BLOOPS! I may or may not make them a regular thing... depends on if you guys like them or not.  
> I absolutely LOVE reading your comments, so please feel free to say whatever you want. Feedback is always appreciated and VERY helpful! Tell me what you think!  
> Thanks to everyone who read, I hope you enjoyed!  
> The next chapter shouldn't be as long of a wait... sorry again!  
> Love,  
> Damari5


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IT'S THE SHADAM/ADASHI TAKEOVER, AND THINGS GET SPICY... AND COLD... VERY COLD...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Official Instagram: damari5.uwu (This is where I update most often)  
> Official Tumblr: damari5 (page name: Beautiful Lies.)
> 
> Hey there I'm back... sorry again for slow updates... Being a high school Senior is hard... school work and applying to colleges and such. =(  
> BUT the chapter is here now, so yay?
> 
> Things get the tiniest bit spicy up in here...
> 
> WARNING: This chapter contains a homophobic slur

## Chapter Six

“Hey Adam?” 

“Yes love?”

“By any chance have you checked on Keith this morning?” The man’s other half sounded from the hallway in a hushed voice. It was early, around six, and the men had woken up to get ready for work as usual. 

“No, why?” he called over the running water of the bathroom sink, his toothbrush bobbing in his mouth as he spoke, “He’s alright isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he’s fine…”

“Then what’s the problem?” He spit the toothpaste from his mouth into the sink .

“You didn’t happen to see who he brought home did you?”

Adam turned off the sink and rushed back into the hallway. Shiro was leaning on the doorframe outside of Keith’s bedroom, peering in, already adorned in his suit for the day’s meeting. 

“He brought someone home?!” Adam exclaimed as he breezed up to his partner’s side.

Except when he examined the room there wasn’t another man in Keith’s bed as Adam had feared.The boy was collapsed on top of his blankets, wearing the same clothes that he was when he had left the house yesterday morning. His face was squished on an open page of his sketchbook, containing a drawing he couldn’t quite make out from the distance. The pencil he had used was still sitting in his limp hand. Adam’s gaze shifted down to the shoes still on his feet and the… 

“You see the cat too right?” Shiro asked turning his head slightly to glance at the man next to him. 

A pair of large yellow eyes surrounded by thick black fur stared back at the two men, it’s long tail flicking playfully. The animal sat protectively close to Keith’s legs.

“Where the hell did it come from?”

“I have no idea…” Shiro sighed staring at the cat who stared right back.

“Should we wake him up?” Adam suggested carefully.

“No not yet…I’m scared that one of us would be missing an eye if we tried to wake him up now.”

“...Pretend like we didn’t see anything?”

“That’s the one,” Shiro smiled and padded socked feet into the kitchen. 

Adam followed close behind, the cool air nipping at his bare chest. He hugged himself with his arms in attempt to warm himself up. 

“What do you think he’s been doing staying out so late?”

Shiro shrugged his shoulders, pouring out two cups of coffee from the pot. 

“He mentioned going out to study,” he started, stirring the cream and sugar into the cups,“But I’m not entirely convinced.” He handed Adam his mug and leaned his back on the counter across from the other man. “Not only did he bring home a mystery guest that is now sharing his bed,-”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“He’s also ate the rest of my ice cream.” He pointed his chin towards the sink.

Adam gazed over at the large spoon in the sink and sighed, “How much was left?”

“There wasn’t much, he’ll be fine… just a little extra pissy today.” 

“We should buy child safety locks for the freezer.”

Shiro laughed placing his coffee down on the counter, “I’m afraid then he’ll just chug the milk.”

“For the fridge too then.” He grinned, holding his coffee close to his bare chest.

“You know if you’d just get dressed already, you wouldn’t be so cold,” Shiro chimed, gliding closer to the other man, amusement dancing in his eyes, “And I wouldn’t be as tempted to touch this skin.” he purred, leaning down to place kisses on each one of the moles on Adam’s stomach. 

“Takashi knock it off.”

“I can’t help it love, you know how much I love your tummy.” He trailed soft lips over the scar interrupting the tan skin of his stomach.

“And you know that it’s sensitive you ass… Now get off.”  After placing his mug down on the counter behind him he attempted to push the man child from him. Both Shiro’s arms hooked around his waist as he continued to pepper kisses down the other man’s navel. 

Adam squirmed, trapped in the strong arms of his captor. He pushed at his face with his hands squishing Shiro’s cheeks and tousling his already messy hair. The man only held tighter, his lips roaming around tan skin. He continued to try and pry Shiro from his body, but gave up quickly, afraid to use too much force. He took a deep breath and gazed down at Takashi’s dark hair.

Adam’s voice deepened, his words escaping his lips in something close to a growl.“Takashi, you know you can’t do this right now.” It was a warning.

“Mhm,” he purred, trailing farther down, his tongue leaving a wet trail as he continued. As he kissed a spot particularly close to the waistband of Adam’s dark underwear, the man tensed. Shiro looked up into his brown eyes which were burning with intensity.

“Sorry.” He whispered into soft skin. Placing one final kiss above his belly button as he loosened his grip and sighed. 

Adam gazed down at the man beneath him, bringing a hand up to pet his hair.

“You need to tell Keith soon.” He whispered. He could almost feel the sadness as it swept over the man clinging to him.

Still hugging Adam’s torso he mumbled, tickling his skin with his warm breath, “He’s going to hate me Adam.” 

“Hey,” he pleaded, “Of course he won’t. Come here, look at me.” He tugged Shiro up so that they stood face to face. Placing his hands on the other man’s cheeks he spoke softly to him. “That boy could never hate you.”

“I just,” he began, their breath mingling in the space between them, “I just don’t want him to get hurt. He’s had more than enough of it to last a lifetime. And if I tell him now, it will only cause him pain.”

“Takashi,” Adam’s voice was firm, “The longer you wait, the harder he’ll take it. He doesn’t deserve to be lied to either.”

“I know.” He breathed, “Just give a little more time. I want him to see me as only me for at least a little longer.”

The eyes that Adam gazed into, the eyes of the man he loved more than anything, were glinting with pain. He desperately wished that he could take the burden away from those eyes. He didn’t deserve it. 

Adam pulled his husband close, slowly connecting their lips. He held Shiro’s cheeks in his palms stroking them with his thumbs as he kissed him softly. 

Then pulled away and pressed his forehead against that of his other half. He would be his strength. Even if he had to drag him out of hell on his back. He wouldn’t leave him behind.

“You don’t have to be strong all the time Takashi.” 

Shiro’s gray eyes wavered gazing into the brown ones that kept him anchored. 

“I know, it’s just-” he started, but was interrupted by Adam gripping him tight and pulling him against his chest. Shiro brought his arms up and buried his face in the crook of his partner’s neck.

“You know I will never leave you, and neither will he.” Adam said calmly, entwining his fingers in Shiro’s dark hair. “None of this is your fault. And once Keith gets over the initial anger he’ll understand. I know he will.” The scent of Adam filled Shiro’s nostrils as he felt his partner’s throat rumble with each word. He’d tell Keith soon. No matter what it costs him, the boy deserved to know. 

“Your leg is shaking Love.”

Shiro pulled away, looking Adam in the eyes, and snickered, “Are you sure you’re not just shivering?”

“Taka-”

“Go get dressed.” The man laughed, pushing Adam in the direction of the hallway, “At this rate we’ll be late.”

Adam sighed running a critical eye over Shiro before turning to walk away. He plays it off so that he won’t worry. Adam knew that. Yet he had trouble arguing with his cheerful smiles and comforting words.  _ Hell _ , he thought, that smile was the bane of his existence. For as long as he’s known Takashi Shirogane he was almost certain he had never fought that look in his eyes and won. 

“We wouldn’t be running late of you hadn’t wasted our time.”

Shiro snickered. “I wouldn’t call what I did a waste of time.”

Adam rolled his eyes and padded bare feet down the hallway. “You’re insufferable.”

  
  


* * *

  


Three days later, Keith had gotten roped into watching a late night movie with Shiro and Adam. Some Korean zombie movie, apparently they thought the fact it was korean would mean Keith would enjoy it more. Despite their faulty logic, he had to admit the movie was good so far. They all sprawled across the couch, limbs lost and tangled somewhere under the blankets. Keith had his head resting on Adam’s empty shoulder the other belonging to Shiro. Mo was passed out on the lap of the scarred man. The cat had taken a liking to Shiro ever since he and Keith took the animal to the vet. And Shiro mirrored the same attachment towards the cat, having practically begged Adam to keep it. 

They couldn’t find any signs of it having an owner, and the thing was in good health. Honestly Keith was relieved that he wouldn’t have to send it away. Even though by now it was practically Shiro’s cat and not his own. 

Buried under warm blankets, Keith heard his phone buzz somewhere in the darkness. He shifted to look for it in the mess of the couch.

“Nope,” Adam quipped, “this is family time.” 

Keith continued to scan around for his phone, hearing it buzz again. And again. And again. 

He saw the dim light of screen on the table in front of the couch and sat up to reach for it.

“Keith.” Shiro warned.

“It’s probably Pidge. She might need my help.” he said straining to reach the table. 

Then he felt a large hand grasp his wrist tugging him back towards the couch. He landed on Adam’s lap, who struggled to pause the movie within the comotion. Keith sat up again and glared tired eyes at Shiro who looked back at him challengingly. 

“It’s family time Keith.” Shiro said, a satisfied smile creeping across his lips.

“Oh my god you creep, it’ll just take a second.” he said reaching for his phone again.

Shiro lunged across his husband and pushed his little brother into the sea of blankets. Keith growled and pushed up on Shiro’s chest with his small hands.

“Takashi do you really think it’s a good idea to-”

“Let go of me damnit!” Keith snarled, slowly inching his way to the edge of the couch.

“It’s FAMILY TIME.” Shiro practically spat. Attempting to restrain the wildfire beneath him. Keith slipped past Shiro farther down on the couch, taking a step onto the hardwood floor, straining his arm to reach. And then his body hit the floor as Shiro gripped his socked foot hard and yanked.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Keith’s voice cracked.

Hoisting the upper part of his body up, Keith reached an arm for his phone, that was still unrelentingly buzzing away. Even with Shiro tugging the lower half of his body, he was able to slip his fingers around the device and allowed himself to fall onto the floor. He army crawled a bit so his head and arms were underneath the glass table.

  
  


**(47) New Messages**

**Group: You and Caramel Macchiato, Hank, Pigeon,**

 

Keith cursed under his breath as he read all of the spam sent his way by Pidge and the rest of the group chat. Even as he read the previous messages, new ones were still coming in.

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_Keeeeiiithhhhhhh_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_ANSWER YOUR PHONE HOE_ **

 

**From: Hank**

**_Don’t you think that you’re being a little inconsiderate? I mean, what if he’s doing something important?_ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_I bet he’s too busy grooming his mullet_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_Or he’s writing emo poetry about how unbearably colorful the world is_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_What the hell do you want?_ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_Glad u could make it Princess_ **

 

**From: Hank**

**_Hey it’s Keith!_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_Lance you have one more chance to shut the hell up._ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_Or what? xD_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_YOU GUYS CAN MAKE OUT LATER THIS IS IMPORTANT_ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_:3_ **

 

**From: Keith**

**_WHy the hell would you even say that_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_2morrow @ 2 we’re all meeting @ the ice rink 2 sk8_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_And Keith if u come 2 I’ll take both of ur shifts this week_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_Seriously?_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_Yeah I may have spent my money… like all of it… and I need more, so what do ya say?_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_I’m busy that day_ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_I bet he’s just scared because he doesn’t know how to skate_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_I’m not scared, I just don’t want to._ **

 

**From: Caramel Macchiato**

**_I’ll hold your hand_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_Fuck off_ **

 

**From: Hank**

**_Keith we really want you to come. Please?_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_PLEEEAASSEEE_ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_I’ll spam you again_ **

 

**To: Group**

**_I’m not staying long._ **

 

As he typed out that damning text he heard a creak from above his head. He looked up through the glass of the coffee table and was met Adam’s curious brown eyes.

“Who’s Caramel Macchiato?” 

He jumped, accidentally slamming his head on the glass.

“Jesus Fuck Adam!” he screeched gripping his head and going limp again on the floor. 

Shiro entered the room with a bowl of popcorn and a confused look on his face as he observed the scene in front of him.

“Uhhh… what’d I miss?”

“Nothing.” Keith growled slinking out from under the table.”You missed nothing.” He hadn’t even noticed Adam peering over his shoulder, let alone Shiro leave the room. He released on more piercing glare Adam’s way before taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry I interrupted,” he apologized, “Let’s finish the movie.”

Shiro’s eyes narrowed as he glanced over to his husband. Adam only shrugged his shoulders in response, slowly sitting back down on the couch next to Keith.    

 

An hour later, and Keith hated to admit the fact that he got teary eyed near the end. Luckily it went unnoticed due to the darkness of the room, and with his head hidden in Adam’s shoulder. He quickly said goodnight and retired to his room, leaving the two other men in the darkness of the living room. The only light was that from the glowing screen, illuminating their features and casting dark shadows on their faces.

“Well he just couldn’t wait to get out of here huh?” Shiro laughed, stretching out so that his head lay in Adam’s lap. He looked up into his lover’s eyes, they were damp, but gazing at him tenderly.

“Did you cry?” He questioned, reaching a hand up to hold his cheek. Adam leaned into the touch and smiled down at his husband.

“I’m not the only one.” He pointed a long finger at a small wet spot on the fabric of his shoulder, his ring reflecting the light from the tv. 

“Keith cried?” Shiro marveled. 

“Yeah.” Adam confirmed softly, “He’s been acting pretty weird lately.”

“Ever since his classes started.” As Shiro spoke, Adam ran his fingers through the soft strands of his hair. “He looks pretty goddamn tired most of the time… But somehow he feels just a little bit brighter.”

“Hmm,” Adam contemplated studying the curves of his partner’s face. “I think it may be time for you to go to sleep.” He said tenderly.

Shiro opened his gray eyes and stared at his husband. He sighed and began to sit up, his body heavy with sleep. Adam leaned down and kissed his forehead as he lifted himself off of his lap. 

“I know Takashi.” he whispered into his forehead, tickling the skin with his lips.

Shiro smiled and stood up, Adam coming with him. They both cleaned up the remaining mess and then retired to their room for the night. 

 

* * *

 

Drowning in the fabric of his scarf Keith shot daggers at the other patrons. He couldn’t feel his nose, his legs were shaking, and everytime he tried to take one fucking step he’d lose his balance. His gloved hands gripped tightly to the wall as he pulled himself along with most of the kids at the rink. Spotting Pidge skating beside Lance he regretted every decision that had lead him to that point. 

Pidge had spent all of ten minutes trying to help Keith skate, and then ditched him to fly around the rink with none other than caramel macchiato himself. Apparently he and Pidge were some kind of ice skating gods who didn’t have time to help the less fortunate. AKA Keith and Hunk.

The larger man mimicked Keith’s movements along the wall. He was at least put at ease somewhat that he wasn’t the only one not able to skate.

“I’m sorry I begged you to come,” Hunk panted. “I didn’t think it was going to be so painful.”

“I forgive you.” He reassured. “Besides it’s Pidge and Lance’s fault for leaving us to suffer.” He glared around the rink until his eyes caught on the two traitors. They glided across the ice with ease, the wind blowing their hair back. Making another round, they were approaching Keith and Hunk.

“Pidge! Lance! Stop for a second!” Hunk called waving a hand, the other still tightly gripping to the wall. They breezed over and came to an abrupt stop meeting the two men where they were.

“Hey Hunk what’s up?” Pidge questioned.

“I can’t do this, I need your help.”

She looked him up and down, noticing the death grip he had on the wall, and the shaking legs that kept him standing.

“Okay fine.” she sighed grabbing his hand. “But if you start falling I’m letting go of your hand.”

“What? Well what about me? Now I’m alone.” Lance whined, making a pouty face at Pidge.

“You can help Keith.” 

Keith looked at Lance with disdain written on his face. “No thanks, I’m fine.” He said, noticing the satisfied look on Lance’s face.

“You've barely moved five feet in ten minutes.” Lance deadpanned, breezing up to Keith’s side.

Keith snarled, looking to Pidge for help, but she and Hunk were already gone.

“I could move one of my feet into the side of your head if you’d prefer.”

“Not on this ice, with that balance.” He glanced down at Keith’s shaking legs. “I’d say you couldn’t do much to hurt me if you tried right now.”

He was absolutely right, but there was no way Keith would ask anyone for help. Especially not Lance Mcclain. 

“I said I don’t need your help Lance.” 

The man let out a long sigh and held out both of his hands.

“Okay fine,” he countered. ”But can we at least skate around a bit so Pidge doesn’t come for both of our asses?” 

Keith wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t straight. After weighing his options for a few moments, he reached an unsure hand out, slowly clutching onto Lance’s gloved fingers. Then he did the same with the other staring at where his hand was placed in the other.

“Don’t do anything weird again.” He frowned, his face looking like an angry toddler all bundled up in his scarf. He recalled the last time Lance held his small hand in his, kissing it while singing that god awful song. 

Lance’s lips creeped into a satisfied smirk watching the pink on Keith’s cheeks grow slightly deeper. slowly he began to move backwards, how he did it, Keith had no idea. He pulled Keith along until they were a good distance away from the safety of the wall. The rink wasn’t entirely too crowded. There was the usual group of children slipping around, along with a few adults and the occasional couple.

“We’ll just go a few times around, and then I’ll let you go okay?”

Keith slowly nodded. Feeling the strength of the other man holding him steady, he almost hoped that he wouldn’t let go. 

They began moving carefully, and very slowly at first, picking up speed as they went.

“It’s more of a glide than a step.” Lance offered. “See my feet?”

Keith nodded again, not daring take his eyes off their skates on the ice.

“Kinda like this, except, well you know… going forward.”

Keith’s eyebrows creased and he puffed up one of his cheeks with air, focusing himself completely on the movement of his skates.

“Yeah like that.” Lance praised as they started moving smoother. “Now just keep doing that and you’ll be able to skate like yours truly in no time.”

Lance smiled, staring down at a scowling Keith who looked like a small boy puffing one of his cheeks out like that. He must’ve been so focused on keeping his balance that he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

“So how the hell did you get so good at this anyway?” He asked, not taking his eyes off the ice.

Glancing behind him, Lance thought about it for a moment.

“Well actually I was really into figure skating when I was smaller. I took a bunch of classes, and believe it or not, I was actually like really good. I could do some of those cool turns and jumps and things. My teacher even recommended me to this really famous coach in San Diego.” 

Keith frowned at his skates.

“What happened? Did you get hurt or something?”

He could feel Lance stiffen. “No…” He started. “It… was my dad actually…”

“What about him?” Keith couldn’t explain what came over him that made him so interested in Lance’s past. Maybe it was the way that he spoke about his dad then… with a voice he hadn’t heard from him before. Something sorrowful, but very old, like it had been right there the whole time and he just hadn’t see it. 

“He said that no son of his was going to do a sport that made him look like a fag.”

Keith’s gaze shot up to meet Lance’s who was smiling solemnly. No doubt to hide the hurt Keith felt pouring out of him. Despite how hard he had tried to stop it, Keith couldn’t help but feel his heart stutter for a moment, seeing the man who was always so obnoxious and smiley, with such a sad look on his face. He didn’t want to see it.

 

The boy looked up at Lance with so much emotion in his gray eyes that he wasn’t even sure what it was he was feeling. Like he was a step away from crying or punching someone into the sun. With that face looking at Lance like that, he almost felt like he finally had someone on his side. 

“Stop with that.” he laughed, but Keith’s expression remained the same.

“Lance-” He began but stopped short. “SHIT WATCH OUT!

The next thing Lance knew, he felt his back slam into the wall with unrelenting force. All of the wind was knocked out of him at once, and he choked out a breath. In a blur, his legs came out from under him and he was falling forwards. 

Now he wasn’t sure what the hell kind of instinct kicked in when he hit the wall, but for some reason he found himself trying to save Keith from his approaching fate. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s head, hoping if anything to protect it from hitting the ice. 

In a matter of moments, their bodies collided and they hit the ground. Hard. 

It hurt like hell, and Lance was pretty sure neither of them could even understand what had happened yet. For a few moments, they both sat still.

“Lance.” Keith’s voice strained, nothing louder than a whisper. “You’re such a fucking idiot.”

Lance’s face was buried somewhere in Keith’s hair, his arms still wrapped around the man’s head, and his fingers were crushed somewhere underneath. He placed Keith’s head down gently on the ice, slipping his arms out and placing them on either side of the other boy. He hoisted himself up, the scent of flowers finally fading as he pulled his face away. 

“Jesus Christ I’m so sorry.” He breathed finally meeting Keith’s gaze. “I didn’t mean to-.” Underneath him, Keith’s face was flushed red, his eyes wavering. He seemed to struggle to catch his breath, his mouth left hanging open. Lance could see their breath mingling in the small space between their mouths. Silence. Lance realized. He had stopped mid sentence what felt like an eternity ago, his body hovering over Keith’s. Despite the biting cold, he felt his face become unbelievably hot. Somewhere in the distance he heard cackling, no doubt Pidge was its source. But it blurred together with the buzz of the rink, until he couldn’t quite hear anything.

“Shit.” he muttered under his breath, still looking back into Keith’s eyes. He gazed back at the man on top of him, completely and utterly overwhelmed. His dark bangs fell back exposing his forehead to the cold, yet he could’ve swore he felt it trickle with sweat.

“Uh-” Lance stuttered, practically flinging himself away from the man still lying with his back on the ice. “Sorry... I didn’t... It… It wasn’t…” Realizing there was no way to climb out of the hole that he so humiliatingly dug himself into, Lance stopped talking. 

Keith grunted as he sat up, his face twisting with discomfort. He allowed himself a small glance at Lance’s face. His cheeks were a deep shade of pink and his eyes moved so fast Keith was half convinced he was looking for something he dropped on the ice.

“Why not just skate anyway?” Keith breathed, not taking his eyes off of Lance. The freckled boy turned quickly to look back at him, his sapphire eyes sparking with confusion.

“What?” he hesitated. 

“You enjoyed doing it didn’t you? Skating I mean.” Keith stared at Lance who averted his gaze at the question. The room seemed to go still.

“Well yeah of course I did but-”

“But nothing, there’s your reason right there.” He interjected. “If you like to skate, skate. This life belongs to you and you alone, and it’s up to you to choose what you want to do with it.” 

Keith’s eyes remained on Lance, who refused to meet his gaze. His eyes looked soft though, like he at least appreciated the sentiment if nothing else. “Although.” Keith chuckled, “If you’re planning to succeed with skating, I’d maybe think it over again after that trainwreck of a fall.”

Finally Lance side eyed him, a smirk forming on his lips. And as their eyes met, it felt as if there was no distance between them at all. 

Lance grinned at the boy next to him, the ice underneath him soaking through his clothes. Yet, he didn’t feel very cold anymore.“Thanks Keith.” 

Carefully Lance hoisted himself onto his feet, making sure to take it slow. Then he reached a hand out to Keith, turning a pink tinted face away, not quite able to face him yet. 

Keith took his hand and allowed Lance to pull him up onto his feet. However once he was standing, neither of them let go. With Keith behind him, Lance took a confident step forward. 

  
  
  


They spent only another twenty minutes skating around with everyone at the rink before retiring to the food court in the same building. Sitting around the table, they discussed their plans for Lotor’s Halloween party. Ultimately deciding that they should all just get ready at their own place and meet outside before the party. After they finished talking about the important things, they moved on to their usual nonsense and bickering.

Keith was in a notably better mood as he stuffed himself with four slices of pizza and a whole goddamn strawberry milkshake. That of which he was very eager to remind Lance of his promise to buy it for him. Eyeing him from across the table, Lance tried to get a reading on him. Just another rich asshole is what he really really tried to convince himself Keith was. But after hearing him say some of those stupidly cliche words today, he just couldn’t do it. He was beginning to understand why Pidge cherished his friendship so much. And just when Lance started to think that Keith kogane might actually be an okay person, the bastard hit him in the eye with a spitball.

Well at least he could say that he fucking tried to give him a chance.

_ An asshole is always an asshole it would seem _ Lance thought as he returned the favor. And a spitball war later, they were so kindly escorted off the premises. In the parking lot, They all shouted obnoxious goodbyes and then they parted ways for what they assumed would be the last time before Halloween. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOPS: 
> 
> To: Mullet  
> Hey, I know this is kinda out of the blue but would u mind meeting me @ La Luna tomorrow for coffee?
> 
> From: Mullet  
> Why would I do that?
> 
> To: Mullet  
> Bc It’s free and I asked nicely?
> 
> From: Mullet  
> We literally just spent an entire 24 hours together… and I didn’t even want that.
> 
> To: Mullet  
> That was like a week ago
> 
> From: Mullet  
> It was three days ago.
> 
> To: Mullet  
> Please?
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
>  
> 
> Keith was exhausted. So unbelievably exhausted. He was beginning to accept that this would become his permanent state of being based on the amount of sleep he hadn’t gotten for the past couple of days.  
> He shuffled into the classroom, his bag suddenly feeling a thousand times heavier. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, apparently she also had a tendency for being late. And as Keith glanced over to the front row, he saw only a very large cup of coffee on the desk.  
> Now you’d think that after spending an entire 24 hours with him, Lance would have had his fair share of Keith, but apparently not. Because when Keith arrived at his seat in the back, he was greeted with none other than Lance himself. He was beaming. A cup of coffee in one hand and a small paper bag in the other.  
> “What’s the occasion?” Keith asked, allowing a small smile to slip through.  
> “Happy somehow we didn’t murder each other last night... although one of us was close… Day.” he glared for a moment and then continued. “I figured you’d skip breakfast because your ass is always late… and I brought a coffee so that you don’t murder anyone right now.”  
> “Who said I didn’t eat breakfast?”  
> “Did you?”  
> Keith reached two hands out to grab the bag and cup from the freckled boy.  
> “Thanks.”  
> “Uh huh, I can take care of myself Lance… Yeah my ass.”  
> To say the least, Keith was incredibly unimpressed by the deep tone Lance used to mock his voice.  
> “Is that it?... 
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
>  
> 
> From: Pigeon  
> And Keith before you say no, remember that male ice skaters have really nice butts. 
> 
> To: Group  
> No
> 
> From: Pigeon  
> Not even for the ass?
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
>  
> 
> His gaze drifted to Hunk and Lance talking by the entrance to the rink. Keith couldn’t make out the words as they moved their mouths, but they were both smiling, decked out in warm clothing. Lance’s eyes followed one of the skaters in the rink, his eyes sparkling as he continued his conversation with Hunk.  
> “Okay.” Pidge patted his now tied skate with a gloved hand. “Ready to skate?”  
> She took him by the hand and practically dragged him up to meet the two other men by the entrance. All of Keith’s attention was focused on keeping his balance on the thin blades.  
> “All right!” Lance bellowed, “Let’s go!”  
> With that he hopped out onto the ice, followed by Hunk, and then Pidge, who dragged Keith along. Immediately Keith was on edge. He didn’t cope well with feeling like he was in danger, and the way his feet slid across the ice without much effort, didn’t feel very safe. His whole body tensed, and he gripped Pidge’s hand with unrelenting strength.  
> “Jesus Christ Keith, you’re going to break my hand.”  
> She continued to move forward, pulling Keith along.  
> “You’re going to move your feet at some point.” She deadpanned.  
> Keith snarled taking a step and then another. It was far from graceful, but he did move a little bit.  
> “See you’re fine.” 
> 
> They went around a few times, Pidge leading Keith along by the hand. He was able to find some sort of rhythm so he didn’t wipe out.  
> He glanced around at the other patrons, catching wind of Lance literally flying around the rink on his own. Apparently he forgot to mention he was some freaking olympic skater. He turned and began to glide around the edges of the rink backwards. And then he jumped, and spun, and fell hard on his ass. Keith laughed to himself and tried to focus back on where Pidge was leading him. Tried.  
> Some guy offered Lance his hand to help him up. Lance scratched the back of his head with his gloved hand and laughed, his face flushed a deep shade of red. It was about when he ran one of his hands through his messy hair that Keith’s legs flew from beneath him.  
> Pidge let go of his hand as soon as she realized he was going down. One hell of a friend he had.  
> “Jesus Keith are you okay? What the hell were you looking at because it definitely wasn’t where we were going.”
> 
> * * *
> 
> THAT'S IT FOR THE BLOOPS!  
> NEXT TIME ON BEAUTIFUL LIES... Lotor's Party gets pretty intense so stay tuned for some action next chapter!  
> Thanks all for reading! Like always I look forward to hearing your feedback!  
> Love,  
> Damari5


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you get when you mix gays, beer, jealousy, bad decisions, and a dash of sexy dancing together? 
> 
> Regret... the answer is regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Chapter seven is here, and is even longer than the last one! Once again slow updates blah blah, but I'm trying my best and I'm sorry... However I'm very excited to post this chapter and look forward to your feedback!
> 
> Make sure to follow the official instagram for updates! @damari5.uwu
> 
> WARNING: This chapter contains minor violence and like always lots of cursing
> 
> That's all my lovelies, I hope you enjoy the chapter!  
> Love,  
> Damari5
> 
> * * *
> 
> “Keith, I have some good news for you.” The woman with the too cheery voice sat down beside him. He continued to stare up at the clouds, the warm breeze ruffling his hair. He had seen a dragon in the sky. He’d envied it. Flying so free up there, not having to fear a single thing. He didn’t know fear. Probably not once in his life. Just clouds.  
> “We found you a family.” She smiled with too-white teeth. “Their names are Jack and Elizabeth, and they have three oth-”  
> “No.” Keith said, turning to face the woman with burning eyes. “I’m staying here.”  
> “But sweetheart don’t you want a family? You’ll be lonely if you stay here.”  
> “I don’t need another “family.”” He spat. “I want to be alone.”  
> “Darling we’re trying to help you, if you’d just let us-”  
> “I don’t need your help! I just want to be left alone.” He cried out, wishing so deeply that he could turn into the dragon made of clouds and fly into the sky. Away from all of the people who claimed they wanted to help. Away from the liars, the monsters, and the like.

## Chapter Seven

No one had told Keith that Lotor’s so called house was in fact a motherfucking mansion. So you could imagine his surprise as he parked his motorcycle outside the property, and saw the large structure in all its glory… Okay it wasn’t THAT large, but it was bigger than any house that Keith ever had the pleasure of entering. All of his foster homes were basic properties, possibly on the larger side due to the amount of children they cared for. But they definitely didn’t compare to this. Groups of people lingered around the front lawn, and others flooded through the door and into the “house.” 

He was careful taking off his helmet as to not ruin the scar that he spent literal hours painting on his face. Although out of all the costumes he could’ve gotten stuck with, he supposed Prince Zuko wasn’t the worst. The loose red and gold robes were pretty damn comfortable, and he didn’t have to do much to his hair.

However no matter how comfortable his costume was, it wasn’t going to make attending this huge-ass party any less tortuous. He could practically already smell the cheap beer and bad decisions from the street. At least he’d have his friends. 

He crossed the street and approached the front lawn. Scanning with desperate eyes for a familiar face. Which was practically impossible due to the obnoxious amount of face paint and masks going on. 

As he searched the many faces, he made eye contact with a man standing by the front door. He was tall, like really tall, and was dressed all in black. The long locks of white hair that cascaded down contrasted the black leather and armor of his costume. Not to mention the crown. He smiled, and began to move in Keith’s direction. 

_ Of fucking course he attracted the attention of some beautiful fucking demon man within not even two minutes of arriving. _ He breezed up to Keith with a polite smile.

“Hello there.” he greeted him, “I couldn’t help but notice that you look a bit lost.” 

He had an english accent, that he had to admit was charming in a way. However Keith couldn’t see how it was any of his business.

“I’m just looking for my friends.” he replied curtly, looking up at the man. Then the eiffel tower of a guy held out a tanned hand.

“My apologies. I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Lotor, the master of this house.”  _ Master he says.  _ Keith was having a hard time taking him seriously. He talked so formally, especially for the guy who threw some massive rave at his mansion. This tall, gorgeous, charismatic demon wasn’t exactly what he pictured the owner of the house would look like. Keith hesitantly shook the man’s large hand. He felt like a small child compared to Lotor’s stature, his hand completely enveloped by his.

“I could help you find your friends if you would like?”

“No thanks, I’ll just look around a bit.” He dismissed attempting to turn away.

“Just tell me their names, there’s no trouble.” He smiled with canines so pointy they looked like fangs, which they might’ve been considering his costume. He was charming, but, Keith couldn’t help but feel uneasy… he was intimidating to say the least.

The smaller boy sighed, scanning the large crowd of people again.

“Pidge, Hunk, Lance…” 

As the last name escaped his lips, Lotor’s smile vanished. Replaced with a look of defeat and utter disappointment.

“Oh.” he sighed, allowing his shoulders to slump a bit.

“Keith!” Lance chimed from somewhere in the crowd. Speak of the devil. “What’re you doing over here? Didn’t we tell you to meet us inside?” He strolled up to the other two men, stone faced, despite his chipper tone. Keith took in the costume as he breezed up to his side. He was wearing blue robes, kinda similar to his, accept with a deeper than necessary V neck. Some funky looking fingerless gloves poked out from under what looked like bandages wrapped around his forearms. And he had… a choker…  _ Dear God _ .

Lance quirked a thicker than usual eyebrow up at Keith, who shook himself out of his daze, turning away.

“No actually you didn’t tell me that.” he bit. 

“Lance,” Lotor grinned, a bit too gleefully, “I didn’t realize you’d arrived.”

“We must’ve missed each other.” Lance responded, the undertone in his voice revealing to Keith his obvious displeasure.

“Well I’m glad you could attend.”

Lance glanced at Keith, grabbing his arm, and then turned back towards Lotor. “Well everyone’s waiting, we’ll talk to you later.” He paused and ran a critical eye up and down the length of the tall man’s body. “grim reaper.”

“Hades.” Lotor smiled painfully, “I do hope you enjoy the party.”

Keith nodded a goodbye as Lance basically dragged him away. Lotor lifted up a large hand and waved at Keith, a genuine smile tugging at his lips.

“Nice to meet you Keith.” he chimed as they disappeared into the crowd. Maneuvering through the sea of people, Keith caught a glimpse of Lance’s glare.

“What was that all about?” he questioned.

They slipped through the front door, Lance pulling Keith along by his arm. Although crowded, there was room to move around at the very least.

“We moved inside, because I was trying to avoid having to talk to Lotor.” Lance responded, leading Keith through the crowd.”Although having to go find you defeated the whole point.”

“Tch. It’s not my fault.” Keith grumbled. “Last thing I heard, we were meeting outside.”

Music blared throughout the large house, they practically had to yell at each other in order to be heard over the sound. 

Lance glanced back over his shoulder at Keith. “I know it’s not, I never said it was. I was just hoping I wouldn’t have to speak to the guy that’s all.”

“It’s kinda hard to do that when he’s the host.”

“Yeah.” He agreed, turning away before he could see Keith smirk.

“Nice ponytail.” he drawled, examining the hair he had pulled back. Pieces fell out in the front, onto his face, as well as some hair in the back as well. The length wasn’t quite long enough to pull back, but Keith had no complaints.

“It’s a warrior’s wolf tail you uncultured swine.” He retorted, not turning back to see Keith’s reaction. “Come on, everyone’s in here.”

Lance turned a corner into a different room, filled with people surrounding an elevated section of flooring in the back. On top, were two strangers with microphones singing god knows what song.  _ Of course there was fucking karaoke.  _ Keith already regretted ever agreeing to this.

“Keith! Lance! Over here!” Hunk waved at them excitedly from across the room. 

Lance maneuvered them once again through the crowd, tugging Keith along, until they finally approached the group. Pidge and Hunk were accompanied by two beautiful women, their presence unbelievably intimidating.

“Sorry for the wait.” Lance apologized. “It took me longer than I expected to find the little punk.” He pulled Keith’s arm up and waved it at everyone, which honestly keith had forgotten was still in the taller boy’s grasp. He yanked it away quickly and took a step closer to Pidge.

“Not to worry.” One of the women stepped forward and offered a delicate hand to Keith. “It’s nice to meet you my name is Allura.” She spoke eloquently, the perfectness of her voice matching that of her appearance. She was tall and thin, with tan skin and long white hair that matched her flowing dress.

“Keith.” He answered, taking her hand.

“And I’m Romelle!” The girl beside her beamed grabbing his hand and shaking it excitedly. Keith tried hard not to tug away from the sudden touch. The girl was also of Goddess standard. Her long blonde hair cascaded down at her waist, almost reaching the length of her... dress?

“I love your costume!” she complimented, now holding his hand with both of hers.

“Thanks.” he hesitated, his eyes catching on a glint of silver hidden behind her red cape. “I like your sword.”

Her brown eyes gleamed, “You too.” she giggled, looking at the weapon he also had strapped to his back. 

“Okay Princess of Power that’s enough gawking.” Allura laughed, tugging Romelle back to her side.

Keith looked at each of his friends, all of them standing in a circle. Everyone besides Hunk and Romelle already had a red cup in their hands, no doubt full of cheap beer. Even Lance had gotten one from who knows where. 

“Okay!” Pidge practically shouted from beside him. “Now that everyone’s here, karaoke!”

Everyone’s faces lit up, voicing their agreement.

“Ha… no.” Keith deadpanned. 

“Keeeiiithhhh.” Pidge whined grabbing his wrist, attempting to pull him along. God Keith wished people would just stop touching him. “Come on we waited all of this time for you.”

“Yeah Keith, please?” Hunk pleaded. “It won’t be fun unless all of us do it together.”

“Please Keith.” Romelle chimed in, doing her best to guilt him with her big brown puppy dog eyes. Honestly, he almost felt a tingle of remorse in his fingers at her attempt to persuade him.

“You guys go on ahead.” he held firm. “I’ll stay back and watch.”

 

After ten more minutes of begging, Pidge and the others finally accepted the fact that there was absolutely no way in hell that Keith was going to sing with them. His friends finally took the “stage,” each of them wearing their own dopey looking smile. 

After about three songs, Keith realized it’d be awhile before he’d get to leave that room. He found himself a chair against the back wall, opposite the “stage,” and got comfortable. 

With nothing to entertain him besides his friends pitchy melody and crackhead personalities, Keith began to notice some things.

First, that his friends were absolutely insane, and if anyone asked him now if he knew them, he would deny the fact 100 percent. Second, is that the two goddesses were in fact just as insane as his friends if not more. Third, Romelle was actually a badass rapper that spits way too fast for her own good. The moment she opened her mouth Keith’s jaw quite literally dropped. Not only was she fast, but she became a whole different person. Gaining the flow and confidence of an idol. By the time she had finished the rap in the first song, she had attracted quite a large crowd of thirsty men and women wanting to catch her attention… or perhaps even an autograph. If Keith wasn’t so overwhelmingly gay, he could see himself wanting her attention as well. 

The fifth thing he noticed, was the unshakeable feeling that he was being watched. However when he scanned the room for someone's prying eyes, he couldn’t find anyone who was even sparing him a glance. Besides his friends on stage of course, who basically serenaded him despite the distance. The only one of his friends not looking his way was Lance, who seemed to have his eyes glued to Allura the whole time, singing with her… to her. It was definitely a change of pace from the last time he had seen Lance sing. Exhaustion falling over his mischievous eyes as he danced on the tables in the library. Now instead of holding Keith’s hand however, he was holding Allura’s gaze, and returning her vibrant smile. 

The boy in the chair looked away from the stage, his chest tightening for a reason he couldn’t place, it was annoying really. 

When he turned his head towards his left side, he was met with a pair of chocolate brown eyes, as a man sat down in the seat next to him. 

“Hey.” He began, looking at Keith almost timidly. “Keith… right?”

Keith’s brows furrowed as he better examined the man sitting a little too close. He was dressed in some old looking dark blue and cream colored soldier’s uniform, and his chestnut hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a ribbon. His thick eyebrows, the slightly tanned skin. He looked at Keith with recognition, and honestly Keith couldn’t help but feel he had seen the guy somewhere as well.

“Have we met?” Keith asked finally.

“I’m James Griffin.” He said with an unsure smile.

James Griffin. Keith recalled. They had met, what felt like an eternity ago.

“From the orphanage.” Keith allowed himself a small smile. 

“So it is you!” Griffin beamed. “I was nervous for a second I was harassing some stranger… How have you been man? I haven’t seen you since we were like twelve!” The expression on his face made him look as boyish as he did when they first met. He was genuinely excited to see Keith, which was surprising considering they never got along very well.

“I’ve been good.” he answered. “How about you?” 

Last he saw of Griffin, was the day that he left the orphanage with a family. If Keith was recalling it correctly, they had gotten in a fist fight that day after Griffin had taunted him. Something about nobody wanting Keith because he was a freak or a hothead or something.

“I’ve been great! I really lucked out with a nice family… I never really got to tell you about them… not that you’d have wanted to hear it back then… I know I was a bit of an asshole…”

“A bit?” Keith questioned, quirking an eyebrow at the boy next to him.

“Okay I was a huge asshole.” he admitted, chuckling, a grin spreading from ear to ear. He was surprisingly charming, and Keith couldn’t help but notice that he grew up well.

“I am sorry though.” he said, looking Keith in the eyes. “I didn’t mean those things I said to you. I was just being a stupid kid. I hope… there’s no hard feelings?” he asked cautiously, a guilty smile dancing across his lips.

He really did seem to have changed a lot…

“No.” Keith said finally, forcing a smile to his lips. Surprisingly, he found that he was actually comforted in some way by seeing a face from the past.

“Oh thank god.” James released a large breath of air that he had been holding desperately, slapping one of his palms to his chest. After sitting in silence for a moment, he spoke again. “You did end up with a family right?” 

Keith thought back on the many years he spent at the orphanage… rejecting every family that showed interest. If he had gotten his way, he would’ve been in that place until he turned eighteen but…

“Yeah I did… They’re really great.” He smiled. He really was lucky that Shiro and Adam had found him, and that they were so… persistent in making him a part of their family.

“So?” Griffin questioned with a warm smile. “Tell me about them.”

Usually Keith wasn’t one to talk about anything personal… especially when it came to his past, and his family. He definitely wasn’t going to go into tons of detail with Griffin who was still practically a stranger. However, he knew if anyone could have even a shot at understanding him, it was James. He had been through many of the same things after all. They had even been through some of it together, although they didn’t see it that way at the time. Before Keith knew it, they were lost in conversation.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“What the fuck is Keith doing talking to James fucking Griffin?!” Lance growled into Pidge’s ear. They had just finished their last song when he had spared a glance over at Keith. However when he expected to find the loner sulking in the corner like usual, he instead was greeted with a gigantic fucking slap in the face. The way Keith’s eyes lit up as they talked… with James motherfucking Griffin. The pompous asshole from highschool that Lance despised. Why on earth was Keith talking with a guy like him? And wearing a smile like that?

“Oh my god Keith is talking to someone?!” Pidge screeched smacking Lance’s arm repeatedly. 

“Ow Jesus Christ Pidge.”

“Wow.” She breathed, suddenly going calm.

“What? What is it?” Hunk questioned, suddenly appearing over Pidge’s shoulder.

“He’s actually smiling… like an actual smile.”

“Yes I have to admit it’s very cute.” Romelle giggled from next to Hunk.

“You know he’s like ultra gay right?” Pidge deadpanned.

“Obviously,” she laughed. “Look at his face, he definitely has a crush.”

“Look at him socializing all on his own.” Pidge wiped a fake tear from her eye. “I feel like a proud mother.”

“Keith should stay away from that prick. He’s bad news.” Lance scowled turning away. The look on keith’s face was indeed something he hadn’t seen before. He looked genuinely happy, almost carefree, and proud. How on earth did James Griffin manage to get that look on his face. 

“He wasn’t that bad Lance, if only a bit cocky.” Pidge nudged him with her elbow. “I’m just glad he seems to be letting loose a little bit… but that might also be due to whatever he’s drinking.”

“Whatever... “ He crossed his arms and turned to Allura. “We’ve been singing for a while, do you need to check in with Lotor or anything?”

“No,” She replied. “He said he’d come find me when he had free time from hosting.”

“Okay.” he replied, glancing back at Keith and Griffin. “Wanna go dance… Or get some more drinks or something?”

“Sure.” she chirped, turning to the rest of the group, who were still gathered around spying on Keith. “Do you guys want to come dance?”

“Huh?... Oh yeah.” Pidge broke free from her daze. “We should probably leave them to it.”

As they all made their way out of the karaoke room, Pidge glanced at Keith one last time. It really was refreshing to see him look so happy. He always seemed like he had so many walls up, but the way his smile gleamed and his eyes sparkled, she could tell he was talking about something that really made him happy. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Somewhere in the middle of all their talking, Griffin had gotten up and brought back drinks for the both of them. At first keith had refused it, remembering he had driven himself there, However as they continued talking, he realized that he had unconsciously drank the whole thing. Griffin told him about his family. He had two sisters, Adelaide and Diana whom he spoke of fondly. His parents who were a bit strict, but kind nonetheless. He spoke of his friends that he came here with tonight. He described each one, obvious that he cared for them all. However there was one that he spoke of differently. When he spoke the name “Kinkade” his eyes sparkled, and his smile was a bit brighter. The way he spoke so proudly of him, made his feelings clear.

“And well… I actually really like him a lot.” He finally added. 

“Obviously.” Keith went to take a sip of his drink, and then remembered he had run out long ago.

“However he’s kind of dense when it comes to that kind of stuff so it’s been hard trying to get him to realize that I like him as more than just a friend.”

Friends… Where were Keith’s friends? He had been so caught up in catching up with Griffin that he had lost track of his friends. He scanned the room but couldn’t find a sign of them anywhere, the stage occupied by a group of total strangers.

“Sorry.” Keith stood up quickly. “My friends are gone, I should go find them.” He took a step towards the door, but was stopped by Griffin’s hand on his wrist as he stood up from his seat.

“Calm down.” He smiled. “I’ll help you find them.”

“That’s alright.” Keith muttered pulling his hand away quickly. “I appreciate it, but don’t need help.” 

“Sorry.” Griffin apologized. Realizing grabbing him may not have been the best plan. He never really did know what happened, but he wouldn’t forget the bruises that Keith had sported the day he arrived at the orphanage. Back then, Keith didn’t let anyone even get near him, let alone grab him without getting punched.

“Let me come with you?”

“Fine.” Keith barked, back to his old grumpy self again. Ah that was the Keith that Griffin had known and hated all those years ago.

James followed Keith into the main room, scanning for his friends as well. He had left Kinkade and Rizavi in the kitchen when he had spotted Keith, but it had been at least half an hour since then, if not longer. Honestly he felt a bit insulted… If they had even realized he was gone, they hadn’t looked for him. If only they had, he thought, Kinkade might’ve even been jealous seeing him with a pretty boy like Keith… And that’s when Griffin got an idea.

“Do you see them?” James asked peering past Keith at the crowd.

Lance, Hunk, and Romelle were all dancing like the crackheads they were in the middle of the room. They looked happy, and Pidge was obviously intoxicated… they seemed fine. He scanned the room a second time, and then a third, but he didn’t see Lance or Allura anywhere. 

“Yeah… but Lance and Allura aren’t there.” Keith finally responded to Griffin’s question.

“Lance?” James responded turning to Keith.

“Yeah… do you know him to?”

“Yeah actually I do, we went to highschool together.”

“No kidding…” Keith mumbled.

“Haha yeah.” Griffin laughed. “And I actually saw him out back when we passed the door… If you wanted to go check on him.”

“Was there a girl with him? Long white hair? Totally out of his league?”

Griffin laughed. “I’m not sure, why don’t we just go check?”

  


* * *

  


They found Lance and Allura standing by the beer pong table no doubt waiting to play. They stood a bit of an awkward distance away from each other, but they both seemed to be enjoying themselves… smiling and what not. Seeing that they were still alive was good enough for Keith, but as he turned to leave he heard Griffin chime, “Well if it isn’t Lance Mcclain!”

Lance’s smile faded, “James Griffin.” He deadpanned. “What a surprise.”

“I’m not sure we’ve met before, I’m a friend of Lance’s from high school.” James held a hand out to Allura, a smirk pulling at his lips.

“Allura.” She smiled politely taking his hand.

“What do you want Griffin?” Lance said harshly, making no attempts to hide his disdain.

“I was just helping Keith… he was looking for you.” he dared, raising an eyebrow at Lance. 

“Keith?”

Realizing he could no longer escape the situation, Keith took a hesitant step forward.

“I looked around, and everyone was gone… I was just checking to see where everyone was.”

“Yeah you looked a bit busy.” Lance jabbed. “So we figured that we’d leave you two alone.”

You could cut the tension between the three men with a knife. Keith wanted to go back home, and sit on the couch with Mo and draw. Hell he’d even rather play board games with Adam and Shiro for hours than stand here with these guys for two minutes. He wasn’t sure what Lance’s problem was with Griffin, but it was obvious that there was one.

“Well since we’re all here why don’t you guys play beer pong with us? Lance and I were about to play but we needed another team anyway.” The woman offered with a polite smile.

Before Keith or Lance could disagree, Griffin and Allura were already setting up the cups.

“Lance.” Keith asked quietly. “What’s going on?”

“You andyour boy are about to get you asses kicked that’s what.” he snickered.

Keith tried desperately to remind himself that he wasn’t supposed to be drinking, but there was no way he would give Lance the satisfaction of seeing him quit.

“You’re on” he chuckled back, their eyes meeting and practically sparkling in agreement. Meeting Lance’s challenging gaze from across the table caused a thought to arise in the back of Keith’s head… there was something about that look that he missed. 

“Okay, ten cups, everyone can finger, nobody can blow, bounce shots count as two, but you can defend bounces. You can also block shots that bounce on the top, swat or catch. Rerack at six and three, and for simplicity sake, no trick shots, but we’ll keep man on fire and death cup in the game because it’s Lotor’s party and those are house rules… everyone good to start?”

Keith turned wide eyed, leaning over to whisper in Griffin’s ear.

Across the table Lance narrowed his eyes as Griffin grinned at him with Keith in his ear.  _ What the hell kind of satisfied look was that? _ From Lance’s perspective James looked as if he were seconds away from grabbing Keith’s ass, and he knew that wouldn’t go down well for either of the parties involved.

 

“Just follow my lead, I’ll help you if you need it.”James smiled kindly down at Keith, who nodded determined to win despite the fact that he had no idea how to play.

 

“Lance I’ve got eye to eye… okay?” Allura assured him.

“Sure.” he said meeting her gaze. “You know what you’re doing a whole lot more than me.”

 

Allura won first shot, and kicked off the game by getting about three cups right off the bat, one of them courtesy of Lance. Griffin drank two of them, claiming that he holds his alcohol well… which was probably for the best, because Keith wasn’t exactly sure how well he’d hold his. Truth is he hadn’t done much drinking in his life… nothing more than a glass of wine or champagne at Shiro and Adam’s fancy work dinners. 

On their throw, Keith missed the first shot, and Griffin sunk his. Which of course prompted Lance’s cackling across the table. 

Griffin just gave Keith a pat on the back and they continued. 

Allura sunk another and Griffin blocked Lance’s shot after a bounce, earning him a nasty glare from Lance, and an excited high five from Keith. 

For a few turns, Griffin and Allura were the only ones to make shots, one at a time, back and forth, getting into a glaring battle of their own. Everyone took their turns taunting the other side and talking smack. Which in the cases of Keith and Lance, they didn’t have much to brag about.

James took out about four cups with “Man on fire,” whatever the hell that meant, leaving four cups left on Allura and Lance’s side, and three on their own. For some reason, Keith was so damn happy that he hugged him. He literally hugged James Griffin so hard that he loosened up afraid he might hurt him. Griffin hugged him back, both of them wearing shit eating grins. James pumping a victorious fist in the air. That was when Keith realized he really didn’t hold his alcohol well if he actually willingly made physical contact with a practical stranger at a party. At the time it felt natural, and right now, all Keith knew, was that he was warm, ready to win, and not hating Lance’s v neck at the moment. 

 

Across the table, Lance eyed the two men and their obnoxious celebration. He hated to admit it to himself but Keith looked too happy for him to try to taunt or bring him down. Which brought him to the other realization that Keith was the lightest weight of the century… as he began to smile more… Was Keith, the loner, emo, angry, asshole… actually a happy drunk? There was no way... 

 

Lance and Allura took their shots. Lance was obviously pissed at Griffin and his skill, by the way his eyebrows dipped. Keith was sure he could see a vein popping out of his neck from underneath his choker. 

Lance’s ball sunk surprisingly, and Keith picked it up and sipped from the cup. After hugging Griffin, he figured he should try to take the drinking slow. 

“I can drink if you can’t” Griffin offered, his shot bouncing and getting swatted by Allura. 

“No that’s alright.” Keith assured taking his shot, mimicking almost the same situation as Griffin’s as his ball bounced, but instead of Allura, Lance swatted it. He looked up at Keith with challenging sapphire eyes, and Keith could feel the fire in his veins. Pretty skin or not, he wanted to punch him. 

“Keith your-” Griffin shouted from next to him, but it was too late. Keith felt a single drop of beer hit his face, and he looked down to see a ping pong ball floating in his cup. 

 

“Allura Oh my god!” Lance screeched picking her up and twirling her in the air as they laughed. 

“Death cup bitches!” She pointed right at Keith and practically cackled at him. Keith realized then that she was less of a goddess and more of a demon like her MIA boyfriend.

It was all he could do to stand there in astonishment, not quite sure how she did it without him even seeing her…

Allura in Lance’s arms… everything in him screamed at the thought, but they looked good together. There was no denying their happiness when they were together, or their chemistry...

“It’s alright Keith, it was a fun game.” Griffin smiled at him, moving closer, snapping the smaller boy out of daze. Keith fought the urge to take a step back. “We’ll burn the living hell out of them next time.” James whispered viciously. Keith laughed and looked up at his old enemy, placing his cup down on the table. There was no way he was going to finish that, now that he didn’t have to. 

They walked over and shook their opponents hands.

Lance squeezed his hand aggravatingly tight looking deep into Keith’s gray eyes. “Maybe next time cocaine.” he snickered, and Keith practically growled back at him.

“It was good seeing you again Mcclain.” Griffin smiled, taking the hand that Keith had quickly released.

“Yes I rather enjoyed watching you lose.” Lance smiled back.

“Guess it’s not something you’re used to.” 

Lance yanked his hand away from Griffin’s. There really was something between them that keith was missing. Their interaction reminded Keith of his own with Lance, however with Griffin, there was a hidden hostility and hatred that was never there when he bickered Lance. No… his conversations with Lance were different… weren’t they?

“It was very fun playing with you.” Allura smiled, acting like she hadn’t called him a bitch like two minutes prior.

“You too.” he bowed his head slightly. 

“Hey,” Lance interjected. “We should probably go meet up with Pidge and the others to see what they’re doing. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them.”

He was right, Pidge was the one who forced him to come to this party, and he had hardly spent much time with her at all.

“Yeah sure.” Keith responded. “I’ll meet you inside in a second.” 

Lance nodded and walked back into the house, Allura following suit. 

“Sorry I fucked the game up for us.” Keith apologized.

“Don’t worry.” Griffin laughed. “It was a lot of fun. Besides, I’ve beaten Lance way to many times for this singular loss to amount to anything… plus we got to hang out again just like old times!”

“Griffin the only hanging out we did in the orphanage was when we were beating each other bloody.”

“Yeah, like I said good times.”

“Tch.”

Griffin cackled with laughter, bumping Keith on the shoulder with his playfully. “Come on you know I’m just playing with you… Now let’s go meet your friends.” He said breezing past him. Keith chuckled and followed the man through the back door. 

 

Once they reached the main room again, Keith searched eagerly for his friends. At first glance there was no sign of them, plus he was a bit nervous that once he found them, Griffin would make things uncomfortable for Lance again because of their obvious history.

“No offense, but shouldn’t you also be meeting up with your friends?” Keith asked, turning to face Griffin. His eyes were locked on something in the distance, his face stern, then he turned quickly to face Keith.

“Hahaha I do remember that actually!” James laughed, leaning close to his ear.

“Griffin what the fuck are you doing?”

“Sorry… Ryan is looking at us, and honestly I was hoping he’d get jealous.” he whispered a bit too close to Keith’s ear.

“Why?”

“Well remember I told you he’s kinda dense? He hasn’t really been catching on to my “flirting” per say… So I thought maybe if I made him jealous, he’d realize?”

“I think you’re thinking too much about it.” Keith deflected.

“Maybe…” he considered, looking down at the floor, realizing Keith probably had no interest in talking about his helpless crush on Ryan Kinkade.

“Which one is he?” He sighed giving into Griffin’s pout.

James’ face lit up like a goddamned Christmas tree.

“His costume is Lafayette... pretty much the same as mine… he’s tall, with dark skin and hair tied up in a bun, and the eyes that are like-”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s enough Romeo, I see him… can see why you like him too.”

“Hey I have an idea!”

“Why do I already hate it?” Keith sighed, noticing the mischief dancing in Griffin’s eyes.

“Let’s dance.” He grinned as innocently as he could. 

“Yeah, no.” Keith began to walk away but was stopped again by Griffin’s words.

“Just hear me out for one minute.”

Keith turned and looked Griffin straight in the chocolate brown eyes. He practically looked desperate, a complete turn around from his attitude earlier. Keith motioned a hand for him to go on.

“It could be a win win for the both of us.”

“I don’t see how dancing on any level could be a win.”

“Easy.” he claimed. “We dance, Ryan and Mcclain see us, get jealous and-”

“Why the hell would Lance be jealous?” Keith interrupted, clear disdain written all over his face.

“Oh Jesus you too?”

“Me too what?” Keith questioned. He didn’t understand how any of this had to do with Lance at all. Let alone why him dancing with James Griffin would make him jealous.

“Christ nevermind… could you just help me out… as a friend? I promise I won’t do anything out of your comfort zone… literally just dancing.”

If James had asked him a beer pong game ago, he would have declined without hesitation. However the slight buzz in the back of his head was making his thoughts a bit fuzzy. It wasn’t like he and Griffin were going to make out or anything, just dance for a bit while Kinkade was watching. And his friends could wait for him a bit longer. Pidge had Hunk and Romelle and Lance had Allura. He remembered their celebration when they had won the game. Allura and Lance’s smiles…

Keith shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. Was he really going to do this? He knew he was a fool for even considering it but… Griffin looked so desperate… and it’s not like he had anything better to do.

“Fine.” Keith finally answered, watching as Griffin tried to conceal his excitement.

“Thank you Keith so much, don’t worr-”

“But,” Keith interjected. “Only under one condition.”

 

After Lotor finally came to spend time with Allura, Lance was once again put on “finding Keith” duty by Pidge. Why he had to be the one to do it, he had no idea, but here he was searching the main room for the little shit. It didn’t help that Keith was very much on the smaller side. That’s when Lance realized it may be easier to search for that prick Griffin, as he assumed they were probably still together. He was a much taller, much more obnoxiously obvious target to find in a crowd.

Which apparently was a good idea, because Lance spotted his stupid face in seconds. He was dancing with someone too short for Lance to see over the sea of people. He’d just ask Griffin where Keith went, and then leave, not a word more than that. 

At least that was his plan until the person in front of him finally came into view. 

It was Keith. And he was dancing. Not only was he dancing, he looked so fucking into it that Lance had to doubletake that the guy was in fact Keith. He and Griffin moved their hips practically in sync, as the music guided them. 

Keith had to have been either drugged, or truly the lightest weight of the century, because there was no way the Keith he knew would dance. Like that. And especially not with James motherfucking Griffin. James had to have been fooling him, or using him for his money, or something along those lines. He wouldn’t put it past James to befriend someone innocent like Keith just so that he could get him drunk and use him for his own agenda.

Just as Lance began to approach the scene, Griffin’s eyes met his dead on, as his hands slid down and rested themselves on the curves of Keith’s waist. Lance could feel the white hot rage going straight to his head, as Griffin smirked at him from across the room, his hands still on Lance’s friend.

Before he could think, he was bulldozing his way through the crowd, not caring what drunk assholes he pissed off in the process. He was by Keith’s side in seconds grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him away.

“Lance?” Keith called over the music. “What the hell are you doing?”

Lance continued practically dragging Keith through the crowd by his wrist without a word.

“Lance, fucking let go!” he growled tearing his arm from the other boys grasp. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? What’s your problem?!” He snarled back.

Keith had never seen Lance’s face look anything like it did right then. It was so inhumane, so animalistic, and so absolutely enraged that he could barely even recognize the face of the man that he bickered with almost everyday. 

“Lance take a deep breath.” Keith warned, seeing the fire in his friend’s eyes.

“You should stay the hell away from that guy.” He hissed, quieter than his previous yelling, but the words coated with just as much disgust.

“Griffin?”

“Obviously.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a self serving prick who only cares about himself.”

“Why the hell do you care who I hang out with anyway?!”

“Because Keith! He was obviously taking advantage of you!” 

“No he wasn’t Lance. We were just-” 

“Yes he was Keith! You’re just too naive and stupid to see it! The fact that he is just using you probably didn’t cross your mind because you’re Mr. rich boy living the carefree life, but there are still people out there who have no problem using you to get to your mommy and daddy’s mone-”

 

It all happened in a blur. One moment he was yelling at Keith, the next he was on the floor, a throbbing pain shooting up the whole left side of his face. The room seemed to go silent as Lance had realized what had happened. Keith had punched him. Hard. And now he was on top of him with a fistful of Lance’s shirt in his hands lifting him off the ground. 

“Agari dakchyo!” He snarled, rage burning in his gray eyes.

Holy motherfucking shit had Lance made one bigass mistake.

The rest happened in a blur. Hunk pulled Keith off of Lance and walked him out to the front porch, Griffin following them close behind.

When they all finally disappeared through the door, Pidge helped hoist Lance off of the ground, his head spinning. 

“You’re such a fucking idiot.” Was all she said to him, as she guided him through the crowd. “You really fucked up big this time Lancelot.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Keith you need to get a hold of yourself.” Hunk demanded, his voice unyieldingly firm. “You shouldn’t have resorted to violence.”   
“I don’t need you to scold me as if I were a child Hunk.” He spat. “It’s none of your business.”

“If my friends are fighting with each other, it is my business.”

_ Friends. _

Keith turned his back on the other man, looking out at the night sky from the edge of the porch. He heard footsteps approach as Griffin appeared from inside. He looked at Keith carefully and then whispered something to Hunk. 

He took a step forward. “Hey Keith, I’m sorry that may have been my fault… If I hadn’t-”

“What Lance says is on him.” He declared reaching into his pocket and pulling out his keys.

“I’m going home.” He spoke with a stone face as he took a step forward, any emotions he was feeling successfully hidden.

“Keith.” Hunk spoke quietly, placing a comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He went very still, his features still cold. “I’m fine Hunk.” It was obvious he was holding something in, but it was just a matter of whether that thing was his fists or his tongue.

“Okay.” he comforted, nodding discreetly at Griffin who moved fast.

One moment the keys were in Keith’s hands, and the next they weren’t. 

“What the hell.” he growled whipping around to see Griffin handing his keys over to Hunk. 

“As your friend, I can’t let you drive home while intoxicated.”

There was that word again.

“Hunk I’m fine, I can’t even feel it anymore.”

“Nuh-uh nope… I’ll drive you home.”

“Hunk.” he pressed. 

“I’m going to go tell Pidge. Stay here.”

Hunk slipped back inside, leaving Keith to look at the stars, Griffin somewhere behind him.   

It was quieter outside… Besides the muffled sounds of the party, there were only a few conversations happening out front. All of the people too drunk, or caught in their own business to have heard the commotion.

_ Why was Lance so goddamn angry?  _ One moment Keith was dancing, and the next Lance had him by the arm and yelled at him with a face more ferocious than Keith had ever seen on the guy. 

“I don’t remember giving you permission to touch me.” Keith accused, although his tone light.  _ The stars really dared to be so beautiful tonight?  _ He looked apologetically at the sky.  

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that… We were just in the moment, and Ryan and Mcclain were watching… But I guess it had the opposite effect than I intended.” he laughed.

They sat in silence for a few moments, the chill of the night air finally hitting Keith.

Lance would definitely have a bruise from that punch. This was bruise number three that Keith had imposed on that beautiful skin of his. He felt a wave of guilt rise within him. 

He hated hurting people… whether Lance deserved it or not… He shouldn’t have hurt him again.

He let out a long sigh.

“Hey I know this is probably a bad time.” Griffin hesitated, taking a step to Keith’s side. “But I would like to stay in touch if that’s okay with you?”

“Yeah it’s kinda the worst time.”

“Yeah…” Griffin laughed awkwardly. “Just take this, and text me if you want… no pressure.” He slipped a small paper into Keith’s hand.

Had his mind not have been elsewhere, Keith might have judged him on the fact he had his number prewritten on that piece of paper.

“Remember you still have to hold up your side of the bargain.”

“Shit.” Griffin muttered. “If Mcclain and I come out with matching bruises tonight, it’s your fault.”

Keith could live with that honestly. Whatever it was that Griffin did to him in the past must’ve been pretty shitty for Lance to lash out like that. If he trusted James to tell the truth, he would’ve asked him right then, but he didn’t. He would’ve asked Lance later, but he didn’t plan on talking to him anytime soon.

Keith gazed back up at the sky. It hurt more than he’d care to admit to get yelled at by Lance, and standing there trying to find the reason is when he realized… He had gotten so angry, and hurt, because he had begun to trust Lance during their endless bickering. Besides Pidge, Lance was the closest thing he had to a friend. 

Keith knew there was no way for Lance to know about his family, or his life up until the point where they met, but… At the assumption that his life was easy… that his parents were… alive… he lost it. He shouldn’t have, but he did… 

He wasn’t going to apologize to Lance, because that would be admitting that he was genuinely hurt by it. That he had actually let someone new enter his life and mean something, even as miniscule as someone to joke and bicker with.

 

Hunk came back and Keith and Griffin said their goodbye’s, finally Keith would get to go home. He only hoped that neither Shiro or Adam had waited up for him, because he wasn’t quite in the mood to talk about anything. He just wanted to curl up in bed with Mo, and forget about things, if only for a little while.

  
  


* * *

  
  


After speaking with Hunk, Pidge ushered Lance into the kitchen and found him a stool, sitting him down at the island. Although punching him was definitely not the way to handle the situation, Pidge had to admit if the plan was to calm Lance down it was definitely successful. 

He sat quietly at the counter, fiddling with his gloved hands. 

“You don’t have like... a concussion do you?” Pidge asked looking up at him from the other side of the island.

“No,” he breathed. “He didn’t punch me that hard.”

“Hah!” Pidge cackled, opening Lotor’s freezer and pulling out a bag of frozen strawberries. “He fucking decked you Lance… You hit the floor… and Keith is like, not even 140 pounds.” She held out the bag of fruit to him. “Keith and I have been friends for awhile… I’ve seen a number of “the other guys” Lance, and it’s never pretty.”

“Wasn’t there anything besides strawberries?” 

“Why are you being picky about the type of fruit I give you? Just put in on your damn face.”

“Why are you being mean to me? I just got fucking annihilated.” He pouted, accepting the bag and pressing it to his cheek. 

“You were being an ass.”

“Keith was being stupid… I wasn’t just going to let Griffin take advantage of him!” He raised his voice.

“Lance that isn’t why he hit you… If you cared enough to notice, he didn’t give a rats ass what you said about Griffin being a prick or him being naive…”

“You heard the whole thing?!” 

“Yes, we were pretty close to you, but it seems your mind was elsewhere… plus you yelled so damn loud, I think everyone in a two mile radius heard you.”

Lance looked back down at the counter and tapped at it with his fingers.

“Shouldn’t you be talking to him instead?... You know him better than Hunk does…”

“That’s exactly why I’m with you.”

“That… doesn’t make sense.” He puzzled looking up at Pidge with probably the most pitiful looking face she’d ever seen him make.

“You mentioned his parents…” She started, but stopped. Honestly Keith’s past wasn’t something she had the right to share.

“Yeah I know bringing family into it was a dick move, but I don’t really think that warrants the cheekbone he probably cracked.” 

“Oh trust me, if he really wanted to hurt you, that cheekbone would have been in pieces.” A voice quipped from the doorway.

In seconds, Lance was standing and beginning to move at him, before Pidge gripped his arm from across the counter. The sudden movement caught the attention of the few people lounging about the room.

“How the hell would you know?!”

“I know because I was on the other side of those fists for years at the orphanage… And I don’t think I beat him once.” Griffin chuckled.

Lance went still, the anger still residing in his brow.

“Orphanage?”

“You mentioned his parents and he lashed out… That would probably be due to the fact that he hasn’t had any for a long time.”

The freckled boy sat back down, allowing Pidge to finally release her grip on him, hoping that it meant he wasn’t going to attack Griffin. Lance turned to her, looking in her eyes for confirmation, and she nodded.

Lance hadn’t even known Griffin was an orphan, let alone Keith.

“Now I don’t want to tell you things that aren’t really my business… it’d be better for Keith to talk to you about it, but by the looks of him just now, that won’t be anytime soon so… I’ll keep it short.”

Lance felt that pang of regret hit his heart, and he just nodded, despite his growing urge to rip Griffins stupid face off.

“Keith’s life was far from easy back when I knew him. We got in fights often, courtesy of yours truly… and like I said, I don’t think I beat him once… I left the orphanage on a bad note with him, and hadn’t seen him again until tonight.”

Lance really didn’t want to believe him… But it made sense… When they talked about Lance’s family at the diner that night, Keith had been tight lipped. It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about his family, but Lance hadn’t thought much of it at the time. 

“He mentioned he had a brother…” He hesitated quietly.

“That I have no idea, I’d leave that for Keith to tell you himself… but anyway, I’m telling you this because there’s a deal that I have to honor so…”  He cleared his throat obnoxiously, and then bowed at Lance dramatically. “I sincerely apologize for... “whatever it is that I did to you in high school” as Keith had put it…” 

Lance blinked at him, the muffled sounds of the party fading into the background.

“He asked you to apologize to me?”

“Yes… well that is, before you yelled in his face and he decked you...which I must say was hilarious” He chuckled loudly to himself earning a glare from Lance and Pidge both. “We made a deal, and these were his terms of agreement… so I’ll be on my way now.” 

Griffin slinked back out of the room into the sea of people, leaving Lance to try and process all of this information.

Keith is an orphan… 

He doesn’t have a mom or a dad to guide him, or hug him and tell him that they love him. Does he have any family at all besides his brother? Does he have a grandmother to smother him in kisses and cookies? A grandfather to grumble about politics and the hopelessness of the new generation? 

_ “there are still people out there who have no problem using you to get to your mommy and daddy’s money.” _

Shit. He fucked up a lot more than he thought he did. But how was he supposed to know? He just didn’t know.

Lance dropped his head into his hands groaning loudly, his head pounded, and everything around him seemed to sway a bit.

That’s why he’s so angry and hostile… so naive and innocent… so… Keith... Who was there to teach him about the world? Who taught him how to deal with anger and pain? Lance feared more than anything that the answer to his questions was “no one.”

“Pidge you should really be the one talking to Keith right now.” He looked up and met her eyes that were open wide.

“What?” He scowled.

“Nothing… I was just surprised…”

“At?”

“You… you look like you feel really bad.”

“I do feel really bad. Why wouldn’t I? I was an asshole… what’s your point?” 

“I mean… your situation with Griffin is almost the same… and I could see you mentally stringing his organs from the ceiling with your eyes.”

“They’re completely different… Griffin is a prick.” he countered, his eyebrows furrowing.

“You’ve been calling Keith an asshole for the past two months.”

“Yeah, but…  that’s different.”

“How is it different?” She pressed, knowing the reason was that he was too stubborn to admit that he came to care a bit for Keith during their endless fighting. 

“IT JUST IS.” He snapped, standing up from the counter. “I’ve had enough of this… I’m ready to go.”

Pidge blinked, watching Lance sway from his sudden burst of movement. “Hunk is driving Keith home right now.”

“Well then I’ll be ready outside for him when he gets back.” He stalked into the doorway, but stopped with one foot still in the room.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to snap at you… I’m just confused, and my face hurts like hell, I feel guilty as fuck and-”

“Lance it’s okay.” Pidge smiled, practically hopping around the counter to him. “I’ll come with you, so you can stop begging me now.”

Lance smiled at Pidge solemnly, bringing a gloved hand up to pat her head.

“Thanks.” he whispered, a glint of pain in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there weren't actually any bloopers for this chapter while writing (surprisingly) so Instead I thought I would include a nice gag scene (not gag in a sexy way, but gag in a funny way) and some of my planning notes so you can see how these ideas start. xD  
> With that said, Enjoy!
> 
> BLOOPS:
> 
> How Keith fell in the pool, he wasn’t sure. Honestly he didn’t even remember coming outside… but then everything was wet… and blurry…  
> He tried to look around, but the water stung his eyes. He never learned how to swim… It wasn’t something that he ever got to do at the orphanage, and his foster family certainly would not have thought to take him swimming. He tried to push himself upwards, but he didn’t seem to move anywhere. He tried again and again, but always the same result.  
> He opened his eyes wide, fear taking hold of him.  
> Was this really the end? Drunk out of his mind, probably died searching for his honor at the bottom of the pool.  
> Right as he felt the darkness closing in, a hand grab his shirt, and he began to go up.  
> Emerging from the water, Keith choked and coughed, sucking in as much air as his body would allow.  
> He was lifted out of the pool by strong arms that placed him gently on the ground. The world spun.  
> Keith looked up into the eyes of his savior. It was Lance, his wet hair strewn across his face. He looked down at Keith breathless, his cheeks flushed red. His clothes clung to his body, revealing his form… But his eyes were most captivating… seemingly brighter under the darkness of his wet hair. He got lost in that dazzling sapphire gaze as it moved closer… and closer… and… WAIT.  
> “Lance what the fuck?!” Keith choked out, a hand coming up to push on Lance’s cheek.  
> “Don’t resist.” he fought.  
> “What the hell do you mean don’t resist, get away from me!”  
> “I have to give you mouth to mouth or you’ll die!”  
> Keith thrashed under the larger man’s body.  
> “No! Fuck you!”  
> “I’m your SAVIOR.”  
> “You’re a PERVERT.”
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
> Notes:  
> Pidge or Hunk or Allura honestly doesn’t really matter, mentions that they were all going to do some karaoke… keith is like HELL NAHHH and watches them. He decides to sketch a quick picture of them instead leaning against the back wall. He catches Griffin’s eye who is watching him (not creepily) from the kitchen. He makes his way over to Keith to start a conversation. After talking for a bit, Griffin asks him to help him make Kinkade (his crush) jealous “Like dance and hang out with me… things like that… I won’t like make out with you or anything."
> 
> Beer Pong  
> \- Lance & Allura VS Keith & James?  
> \- Lance & Hunk VS Keith & Pidge?  
> \- Keith and Lance are on the same side of the table… probably push each other and fight growl and stuff because that’s just who they are. 
> 
> Group Karaoke  
> \- Pidge, Lance, Hunk, Romelle, and Allura sing a song (obnoxiously) and Keith watches half embarrassed and half adoringly.
> 
> After some drinking  
> \- Griffin offers keith something (money?) in exchange for helping him make his crush jealous  
> \- Keith sluts it up with James Griffin (Who is dressed as Alexander Hamilton?) During karaoke or just dancing? (And then Griffin’s hands were on Keith’s waist. James made eye contact with Lance while he slid his hands onto Keith’s hips... smirking.)  
> \- OMG AND KINKADE CAN BE LAFAYETTE.  
> \- CAN’T SPELL KINKADE WITHOUT KINK
> 
> Keith- Zuko  
> Lance- Sokka  
> Pidge- Toph  
> Hunk- Bolin  
> Lotor- Hades  
> Allura- Persephone  
> Romelle- She-Ra  
> James Griffin- Alexander Hamilton  
> Kinkade- Lafayette  
> Rizavi (Nadia)- HERCULES MULLIGAN  
> Ina- supposed to be John Laurens but she MIA
> 
> * * *
> 
> THAT'S ALL THE BLOOPS/NOTES FOR NOW!  
> NEXT TIME ON BEAUTIFUL LIES... Will Lance and Keith make up? Or is the blooming friendship they had, scarred forever? Also! Shiro has something he is hiding from Keith... What is this secret? And how will it affect these brothers?  
> (Sorry I'm so extra.)
> 
> I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading! Feel free to comment any thoughts and/or questions, and I'll be sure to answer to the best of my abilities (no spoils;) I appreciate and look forward to your feedback!  
> Thanks again!  
> Love,  
> Damari5


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone.

## Chapter Eight

“See it’s not so bad.” Pidge prodded, elbowing Keith in his side playfully.

“Fuck off.” He growled, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. His whole demeanor had changed quite drastically the moment he realized they weren’t on their way to the bookstore for books and coffee like Pidge had promised. You could feel the anger and hatred surrounding him like a cloud as he stood out in the cold, The long tan coat that hung over his shoulders swaying in the chilling breeze. People were moving everywhere, many of them small screaming children unable to contain their excitement. Some cried and threw ear piercing tantrums, which was exactly what Keith felt like doing about now.

Hunk leaned down to whisper in Pidge’s ear as she snickered at her angry friend.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have tricked him into coming” He whispered, worried. “Keith is really scary when he’s angry.” 

“Nonsense!” Pidge laughed. “Keith loves the zoo. Right Keith?” 

The boy continued to scowl from under his dark bangs, the black turtle neck making his gray eyes almost look metallic in contrast.

“See he’s thrilled.” 

“Okay, but are you sure about this plan?” Hunk leaned in and whispered again. “Lance is uncharacteristically quiet…” Their gazes shifted over to where Lance was sinking into the depths of his gray hoodie, his hands buried in the pockets of his denim jacket.

“Don’t worry Lance is fine, watch this.” She said turning to him. “Yo Lance!” he looked sapphire eyes her direction, raising an eyebrow. “Here’s the map. Lead the way!” 

He was like a little boy as he bounded up and snatched the map from her with a smile.

“Hell yeah losers, ya boi’s in charge now.” He opened the folded paper and turned it in every direction trying to decipher it.

Keith who now stood about eight feet away from everyone else, dropped his gaze away from the boy with the map, his expression changing.

“See?” Pidge assured, motioning a hand at Lance.

“Okay,” Hunk agreed. “Fine. Then what exactly is the plan?” He whispered into the girl’s ear.

“I’m not sure.” she said stroking her chin as if she had some invisible beard nobody knew about. 

Romelle walked over and leaned in close to their faces. “What’re we whispering about?”

“What’s the best animal to promote forgiveness?” Pidge thought out loud, not even sparing Romelle a glance.

“Uhhh… bunnies?” Hunk suggested, puzzled.

“This is a zoo Hunk, not a farm.”   
“But they’re so cute and fluffy.” The man countered in a small voice. 

“Or we could go play with the goats!” Romelle whispered excitedly. 

Pidge glared up at the both of them. “We’ll just figure it out as we go.” she huffed turning back to look at Lance who still looked as though he was trying to decipher some ancient writings while drunk.

She snatched the map from his long fingers. “Give the damn thing to me.”

“But!-” He shrieked.

“Nope you lost your chance.” She deflected, holding the map away from the man’s grasp, studying it carefully. 

Lance began to pout, the cold breeze chilling him to the bone.

“If you’re stealing the map, can you at least take us somewhere indoors?” He hugged himself with his arms. “It’s cold as fuck out here.” 

“Follow me you big babies.” She began walking off in a seemingly random direction, but out of all of them, she was most likely to know what she was doing. So the four of them followed her, Keith lagging a bit behind the rest.

 

She lead them into a building labeled “Reptile Room.” Which was probably the worst idea seeing as Hunk and Romelle were squealing like scared children the whole time as they walked through. It was just a wide hallway with enclosures lining the walls, a thick layer of glass between the humans and the reptiles. 

Keith followed behind them, walking close to the glass so that he could see all of the different animals as he passed. There were a hell of a lot of turtles which were boring as all hell, and some lizards that weren’t all too entertaining either. The crocodiles had a much bigger enclosure, which Hunk very loudly avoided. If Keith was being totally honest, they gave him the creeps as well, however none of the animals in the exhibit were all too entertaining. It wasn’t too hard to act uninterested as he peered into the different exhibits. At the very least, he was kept semi entertained by looking at the animals. His favorite were the snakes at the end of the room that he watched carefully as Pidge decided where to bring the group next. 

“Okay let’s go.” She commanded. “Lance stop trying to speak parseltongue to the snakes. It won’t work.” 

“What?!” Hunk screeched. “Lance stop!” He tugged on his arm, attempting to pull him out of the exhibit.

The man just laughed and continued to whisper incoherent nonsense at a particularly large snake on the other side of the glass. Watching them, Keith couldn’t believe he was actually friends with these idiots… at least by lagging behind he could act like he didn’t know them. That is until Romelle breezed up to his side. He side eyed her as she spoke, her expression as joyful as always. 

“Why don’t you join us Keith?”

He shrugged, looking back at the snake in the glass. He could feel her holding back on something, as she rocked back and forth on her feet next to him. He was about to walk away when she spoke again.

“I’m not sure what happened at the party but-”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He cut her off quickly, his words and his eyes both hard as stone. He didn’t want to upset her, but what happened wasn’t any of her business in the slightest. He barely even knew the girl at all, having only met her a week ago.

She turned to face him, warm brown eyes meeting his, and then she smiled.

“Sorry, I just thought maybe you’d want to talk about it with someone who wasn’t involved… you know… to get an outside opinion or whatever.” She continued to rock back and forth, It seemed she had trouble sitting still for very long. He simply turned back to the glass, although there wasn’t much to observe. The snake was probably sleeping… or dead as far as he knew, as it hadn’t moved for the whole time Keith had been watching it.

“Anyway, we should probably catch up with the others.” she chimed, spinning quickly on a heel. “Pidge mentioned going to the butterfly cove so I assume that’s where they went.” She began walking towards the exit, her long locks of blonde hair flowing behind her. Keith hadn’t even realized that the rest of the group had disappeared from the room

“Let’s go Mr. grumpy pants.” She called, disappearing out the exit.

  
  
  


Usually Keith could find his friends simply by listening for the sound of stupidity and over caffeinated insanity, but it was unusually quiet when he entered the butterfly cove. He had lagged so far behind Romelle that he had only seen her baggy pink cardigan disappear into the threshold. The “room” was full of plants and flowers that lined the ground and walls. There were different groups of people scattered about the area, most of them children who crouched down by some of the plants. Butterflies fluttered around in the air, and rested on plants. 

The whole cove had a mystical feel, and Keith felt slightly comforted as the natural light above shined through the plants.

He caught sight of Lance on the path as he glanced around the area, but the rest of his friends were nowhere in sight. Even Romelle had disappeared from the cove.

He meant to turn and leave, assuming that the rest of his friends were outside. But his eyes locked on Lance in front of him, and when he tried to walk away, his legs didn’t move. The man was quiet, crouched down by a large plant. He held a long tanned arm out towards it, and like a scene from a movie, a bright blue butterfly landed delicately on his finger. Lance didn’t smile or look surprised, he just… stared. His eyes and the butterfly two of the same dazzling blue. It was a gentle and warm exchange, yet Keith felt a pang of guilt as his eyes locked on Lance’s face. The blue and yellow mark that interrupted the skin on Lance’s cheek stuck out like a sore thumb. 

He had thought about apologizing, but apologizing meant things would go back to they way they were… friends… Maybe they weren’t even that much.

He took a step towards him, he wasn’t sure why, when all his mind was telling was for him to turn around and walk the other way.

The butterfly flew from Lance’s long finger and his eyes followed it towards the path. It lead his eyes to meet with small gray eyes gazing at him a few feet away. The butterfly flew over to the boy on the path, circling his small frame a few times before finally landing on the top of Keith’s dark hair. The two men took a few moments of silence to stare at each other in shock before Lance chuckled and stood up slowly.

Keith glared at Lance’s stupid smile as he approached… the last time they were this close to each other, he had punched Lance so hard he hit the floor.

“It suits you.” the taller man laughed taking in the scene. To Lance it seemed that the little butterfly looked more like it belonged on Keith than his scowl did. His face was far too small and cute to look so threatening all the time. He hoped to say something to Keith… anything to make things go back to normal… The boy had ignored Lance in class all week, not even sparing him a glance. And now as he stood in front of the boy, his eyes were made of steel, not even the slightest bit of emotion breaking through. Without a word, he turned away from Lance and walked back out of the cove, the butterfly fluttering off to some other spot in the sea of plants.

  
  


“Did it work are they talking?!” Romelle questioned, attempting to squeeze between where Pidge and Hunk were settled in the doorway. They peered in at the two men, neither of them making a move in the slightest yet.

“Keith literally just walked in Romelle, give it a moment.” Pidge whispered. “Operation “force Lance and Keith together until they make up” is a go.”

“I wanna see.” Romelle whined from behind the two students, trying her best to peer past them. 

“There’s no room, you can look next time.”

“At least tell me what’s happening.” She pouted.

Pidge observed the cove, everything seemed to be moving with life, besides her friends who were standing still. 

“Keith is just… staring.” she whispered.

“Lance hasn’t seen him yet.”  Hunk added in a quiet voice.

There was some emotion written all over Keith’s face, but Pidge had no idea what it was. It could’ve been the gayest look in the world… but it also could’ve been pain… she honestly couldn’t tell the difference.

“Does it look like they’re going to talk?” Romelle questioned, now accepting the fact she wouldn’t get to look in on them.

“It’s either working better than we thought, or we’re just making it ten times worse but I can’t tell yet.” 

“Shut up Lance is talking!” Hunk butted in pointing.

The two girls shushed him in unison.

Pidge watched as Lance snickered and stood up slowly. But as he approached her friend, she watched Keith’s expression go cold… 

“I guess it’s the latter.” Pidge huffed taking a few steps back, already accepting their defeat. 

“What do you mean?” Hunk fought. “Lance is laughing, and they’re-...” He paused mid sentence, his head dropping in defeat. “Keith walked away.” 

“What?!” Romelle butt in, finally able to observe the scene. She was just in time to see Lance’s smile fade and look down at his hands solemnly, before exiting the cove himself.

“Let’s go guys, we need to meet them at the entrance.” Pidge instructed. “We’re not finished yet.” With a devilish grin she strutted off towards the entrance, Hunk and Romelle following close behind.

  
  


Two hours later and they had gotten absolutely nowhere with their plan. In fact, they weren’t even able to get Keith and Lance alone again. Turns out ditching them was a lot harder than they thought. Especially when Lance stuck to them like glue.

However despite their failed plans, they all seemed to be having fun as they explored together. Even Keith accepted the fact that he was associated with them, and joined in. He was actually the one that suggested they go into the big cats section, even though they had been getting ready to leave. Most of the time he was generally quiet, but his scowl at least had melted away. He spent most of the day by Pidge’s side, with only a few idle conversations between them. That is besides an embarrassed scolding from him when Pidge and Lance had tried to communicate with the gorillas… but eventually he came back around, he always did for Pidge.

 

They walked through the exhibits slowly, taking time to observe all the big cats most of which were sleeping. It was still cold as all hell outside, but eventually they had stopped complaining like a group of six year olds. They passed by everything briskly, hoping to escape the cold sooner rather than later. However as they approached a particular exhibit, Lance stopped suddenly in his tracks. He stared large blue eyes across the enclosure, which were met with a large pair of eyes, like black onyx. In response to Lance, the rest of them stopped. They all stared agape for a moment at the beasts, until Rommelle smacked Hunk and Pidge both on the arms and pulled them close to her. 

“What’s wrong with you guys this is our chance!” She whispered frantically.

Pidge blinked and shook her head breaking herself out of her daze. “Oh shit, you’re right!” 

They all looked over to where Keith and Lance stood, practically side by side staring into the enclosure. Quickly and quietly, the three of them snuck off of the Big cats trail, finally leaving the two men alone once again.

 

They stood in silence for a few minutes observing the lions. One particularly small female stalked around the enclosure, eyeing the two men with obsidian eyes. It wasn’t until she hopped on top of a rock to sleep that the two men realized the other’s presence. They both shifted awkwardly before Lance finally spoke.

“She looks like the one you drew.” 

He recalled the lioness in Keith’s sketchbook from the very first day they had met, bright red and orange flames rising from its feet. The drawing had been more captivating than the real lioness if Lance was being completely honest.

“You mean the one in the sketchbook that you wrongfully flipped through?” The boy asked coldly, his arms crossed across his chest.

“That’s the one.” Lance laughed to himself, whole heartedly knowing Keith wouldn’t find his comment funny in the slightest. He eyed the smaller man out of the corner of his eye as he turned to leave, but he stopped, the wind ruffling his dark hair.

“What’s up?” Lance asked at the abrupt stop.

“They’re gone again.”

Now Lance whipped around to scan the faces in the crowd. Keith was right, their friends had disappeared once again.

“I guess… “ Lance huffed, turning back to Keith. “Let’s just keep walking until we see them. They probably just went ahead like last time.” 

Keith nodded his head in agreement, and they began walking. And searching. And walking.

 

They continued for much longer than either of them expected, the path to them unknown. Pidge and the others were nowhere in sight. As they came up to another enclosure, Lance decided he had enough of watching the little angry ball of designer clothing shiver and glare at every patreon who passed them buy.

“Let’s just stop here for a second, I’ll call Pidge.” Lance said pulling out his phone. 

“Why the hell didn’t you do that twenty minutes ago?” Keith snapped suddenly, his small hands gripping tightly to his arms. His body quaked slightly in the cold air.

Lance rolled his eyes. “You didn’t think of it either so don’t give me lip.” He detested. “You’re just cranky because it’s cold and all you brought was a designer coat with no practical use.”

“Maybe I’m just cranky because getting lost in a zoo where everything smells like hot shit with you in the freezing cold was the last thing I wanted to happen today.” He growled, turning to face the glass wall of the exhibit. “Just fucking call them already.” 

 

Lance looked down at his phone screen, Pidge’s contact already pulled up. But as he stared down at the screen, he couldn’t seem to will himself to press the call button. He trailed his eyes back up to Keith. They were alone for the first time since halloween. This may be the only chance he gets to apologize for what he said. He took a slow deep breath and then turned to his friend.

“Keith listen, about the p-” When he moved his eyes to meet the other boy’s, he instead found him facing the glass of the exhibit. A small gasp escaped his mouth as he looked doe eyes into the enclosure.

“W- What the hell is that.” He practically whispered, not taking his eyes off of it.

Lance walked over to the boy, peering into the water on the other side of the glass. 

“What is what?” he asked confused, staring into the tank. “You mean the hippo?” 

Keith was practically pressing himself up against the glass, his gray eyes blown wide with wonder. 

Lance examined the beast. It was kinda ugly if you asked him, as it walked underneath the water, but apparently Keith didn’t think the same. He shifted his gaze to the man, the view much more special than that in the water. He had never seen Keith wearing such an innocent look on his face. It was hard to believe this gasping little boy was the same guy who just snapped at him not two minutes prior. 

“Do you want me to take your picture with it or something?” Lance said jokingly, still unable to believe that little emo Keith was so excited by a water cow.

The boy only side eyed him.

Lance gave him a look as if to say ‘ _ Really? _ ’

Keith only held his gaze.

“Alright.” Lance laughed, opening the camera on his phone. Suddenly he felt like he was dealing with a child rather than a twenty year old emo asshole.

He held his phone up and looked at his friend through the screen. 

He didn’t pose or anything, but Lance was sure he could almost see the hint of a smile on his lips. He took a few pictures from far away making sure to get the ugly beast in there as well, and then zoomed in on Keith’s face. He couldn’t tell if the red in his cheek was from the cold or from embarrassment and excitement. Either way he knew he wanted a closer picture of the sparkle in his eyes.

But as he took a photo, he suddenly felt his cheeks heat up. What was he thinking? He broke his gaze away from the boy and his phone screen. 

“I’ll send them to you later.” he hesitated, turning around. “I’m gonna call Pidge.”

He walked away, once again pulling up Pidge’s contact. He couldn’t think about Keith in any other way than an annoying asshole that just happened to be a pretty cool guy when you least expect it… He can’t think about him as anything else. He could not think about the fact that he was kind and gentle despite how much he would deny the fact. He couldn’t dwell on the fact that he was kinda cute… and hot depending on the occasion. That he felt bad for him, and wanted to get to know him more. That he just wanted to talk to him. And he definitely couldn’t think about the fact that Keith looked so damn cold all day and despite his choice to wear that damned obnoxious designer coat, Lance still felt bad that he was so miserable.

“LAAaaance?” His phone was up to his ear and he hadn’t realized it, his friend calling his name frantically through the device. Had he really spaced out thinking about Keith when he had been trying to not think about Keith?

“Lance YOU called ME.”

“Shit… yeah, Pidge, Sorry I was spacing out.” he snapped out of his daze once again, his face warm as all hell despite the cold. 

“We’re at the gift shop meet us there!” 

“But-” She hung up before he could even get a word out. He sighed, turning back to face the boy who still stared wide eyes through the glass.

“Let’s go asshole. Apparently they’re at the gift shop.”

 

Thirty minutes later and they were finally back in the car driving home. First stop was Romelle who thanked them all for their time before trotting up to her house. Keith was pretty sure everyone in the car couldn’t help but think she was a bit of an angel. Next was Pidge, who left with an unidentified wink in Hunks direction. They sat in the Holt’s driveway for a few minutes, and finally after some heated bickering and a slew of insults later, Lance snatched up shotgun. He helped direct Hunk to Keith’s “high society” apartments claiming Keith was too “directionally challenged” to do so himself.

Hunks mouth fell open as they pulled up to the building.

“Keith you didn’t tell me you were rich!” He marveled.

“I’m not.”

“Hunk he’s literally wearing designer clothes everytime you see him.” 

“Thanks for the ride Hunk.” Keith said blankly, hopping out of the car. Hunk responded, and like a mom dropping off her child, he watched Keith until he made it through the front door to ensure his safety.

“Oh no!” Lance gasped a bit too dramatically, reaching into the back seat. “I think Keith left his bag back here.” 

“I don’t remember seeing him buy anything.” Hunk mentioned. “You sure it’s not Pidge or Romelle’s?”

“Yeah definitely Keith’s.” Lance’s words shot out like a bullet. “I’ll run it to him real fast wait here for me.”

“Wait Lance-” Hunk tried, but before he could get the words out, Lance was already out the door and running towards the building.

He stopped right before the threshold, taking a minute to pat down his hair and outfit so that he’d appear somewhat composed in front of the fancy people. He only hoped that Keith had already made it to the elevators, and he could just give the bag to the clerk like last time. Hoped. And was in for a very unfortunate surprise. As he breezed into the large room and turned towards the front desk, Keith was standing right there talking to the clerk. The man at the desk talked quietly to Keith who cackled… harder than he had at the diner the night of their project. Like, hand on his stomach, tears in his eyes, cackling… That is until the clerk caught sight of Lance.

“Can I help you young man?”

Keith’s gaze shifted to look behind him at Lance, who stood there in silence, a colorful bag from the zoo in his hand. He gripped it tightly with his fingers as if it could somehow save him from this situation.

The boy’s smile faded as he spoke something quietly to to the clerk and waved a hand at him. It was all extremely casual, like an exchange between old friends.

The boy trotted up to Lance, his whole aura a bit higher in spirits, as it had been at the end of their trip. Yet when he spoke to Lance it was still a bit monotone and melancholy in nature.

“What’s wrong?”

This was the exact situation in which Lance had wanted to avoid… but here he was, bag in hand, and here was Keith, scowl ready at any moment now to show itself.

“You forgot this in the car.” Lance spat, thrusting the bag towards Keith.

The boy looked down at the bag and then back up to Lance.

“I didn’t buy anything.” he deflected, his features returning to stone. “It’s probably Romelle’s.”

“No it’s yours.” Lance fought.

“It’s not m-”

“Can you please just take the damn bag cocaine?” He snapped, his arm getting tired. “Take it or I’ll start screaming.”

“But it’s not mine.”

Lance opened his mouth, a small sound escaping, but before he had the chance to do much else, the bag was snatched from him, Keith’s cold fingers stealing the string from his own.

The boy just sighed loudly, his face twisted in anger as Lance had expected it would be.

“There was that so fucking hard?”   
“It still isn’t mine.”

“It is. You’re welcome. Goodnight.” Lance turned and started towards the door, waving a hand at Keith over his shoulder. The boy just stared at him as he disappeared back out of the building. 

“If that man is bothering you sir, I can refuse him at the door next time.” The clerk called from the front desk, his face bearing a slight smirk.

Keith frowned. “No it’s fine. Goodnight Florent.”

“Goodnight sir.”  

As soon as Keith got in the elevator, he dug a small hand into the bag, his hand brushing up against something soft. He pulled the thing out slowly, not trusting Lance and the mystery bag that was forced on him. However when he saw what was clasped in his hand, he couldn’t help but let a slight chuckle escape him. In his hand was a small plush hippo. 

The object felt foreign to him. He had always seen children with stuffed toys or dolls, but he never recalled having one. There were few at the orphanage, and he wasn’t permitted to touch anything that wasn’t his without permission at the foster home. Not to mention he had quite the image to hold up when he was young, so something as cute as this soft purple hippo was definitely out of the question. 

 

Before making it to his room, Keith threw the empty bag away. The only thing Lance had bought was a hippo plushie for him, not even anything for himself. He shook his head as he opened the door to his apartment, the smell of food filling his nostrils. 

“Keith is that you?” Adam peeked around the corner from the kitchen, offering the boy a bright smile. The whole apartment smelled like heaven, his mouth watered immediately in response. All he had eaten was a basket of subpar chicken strips and soggy fries at the zoo.

“Go get changed and washed up or whatever.” Shiro’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “Dinner is almost ready.” He turned the corner to greet Keith, spatula in hand. 

“What do you got there?” Shiro smiled and motioned his chin at the plushie in Keith’s hand.

“It’s nothing, I got it while I was there.” If he said it was a gift from another man, It was surely to raise a lot more questions. Ones much more personal and annoying in nature.

“I thought you were going to get coffee.”

“Yeah me too.” Keith sighed, walking past the two men towards the hallway.

“So um… who bought it for you?” Shiro smiled, stifling a giggle. 

“I bought it myself…” He tried, knowing wholeheartedly both of the men in the room knew him well enough to know that was practically impossible.

“Yeah.” Adam laughed. “Just like I bought that taser for myself.”

“You don’t like the taser?” Shiro pouted, stirring something that sizzled loudly in the pan.

“I never said that.”

Keith used their bickering to escape into his room, dropping the little hippo on his bed next to a sleeping Mo. He stopped to pet his black fur for a few moments before getting changed. He eyed the clothes in his closet recalling what Lance had said earlier.

He did wear designer brands practically everyday… but he didn’t think it was all too noticeable… Not that it mattered all that much. He just hated giving Lance more fuel to bicker with him by letting him use the term “rich boy.” Though he supposed it was a bit too late for that.

He slipped on black joggers and a T-shirt and rushed back out into the living room, excited to relax at home for the rest of the night.

  
  


* * *

  
  


A few hours after dinner Shiro poked his head into Keith’s room, attempting to cover up his worry with a smile. As far as Keith knew, he and Adam had been watching movies and playing board games in their sweatpants, like they did most nights they had off… But Shiro was dressed, and alone, His dark eyes sparkling, if not a bit heavy looking.

“If you’re not too busy Keith, I’d like to talk with you.” He said calmly, glancing down at the screen on the desk. Keith had been working on his tablet, in the middle of a commission that he was supposed to have done by the next day. 

“Is something wrong?” Keith asked, standing up from the desk. With his bangs pinned back, it was easy to see the worry in his eyes.

“No,” Shiro smiled. “Everything is okay.” He glanced at the boy’s bed and motioned his chin toward it. “Can I sit?”

Keith nodded, as Shiro walked in, and took a seat on the rumpled gray sheets, smirking slightly at the hippo that sat by Keith’s pillow. He patted the space beside him, and Keith obliged. He sat down hesitantly next to his brother, trying to look into the dark eyes that he kept trained on the floor. Shiro had been acting a bit off all night. Keith could sense his uneasiness, almost like he had been holding his breath. Dinner was still the normal amount of dysfunctional wisecracks and talking, however in the silence between conversation, was when Keith could feel the tension that resided in his brother. He could feel it in Adam as well. He had thought that the two had had a disagreement or something before dinner, but with how Shiro looked sitting in front of him now, it was obvious he had been wrong.

“What is it Shiro? I can tell something is wrong, so just tell me.” He reached out and placed a hand on the older man’s knee, meeting his gaze. He nodded reassuringly, doing his best to be comforting despite his own worry.

Shiro looked up, studying the boy in front of him. Keith’s soft black hair was pinned back, revealing the entirety of his small face. He forgot how small and how young he was sometimes. He had been through so much when he was way too young, and he was forced to grow up too fast. But because of that, Shiro could see the part of Keith that would always just be a boy who was wronged and scared. God how he wished he didn’t have to do this to him.

“When I was younger I was a lot like you.” He began, a smile tugging at his lips. Despite his grin, it sounded solemn. “Except I wasn’t a little hermit.” Shiro added, elbowing Keith in the side as the boy scowled, unsure of where the conversation was going. “I played a lot of volleyball in middle and high school. I was pretty good… I played ace and had the jump serve of a god.” The 

man’s eyes sparkled looking at the boy in front of him. “You just come in here to brag?” Keith sneered.

“But as you know, I took up swimming later on in highschool… Now that I think about it, I was quite the champ there too I guess.” he laughed. “But I really missed volleyball… and my team… I think we could’ve made it far… Actually they did make it far. Fourth place in nationals without me… It was like watching a miracle out on the courts that day. I remember wishing more than anything that I could’ve been a part of it… “ he trailed off.

“Why did you stop?” Keith asked, doe eyed. Shiro had to look away from him. There was no way he was going to get anything out with Keith giving him that look.

“I switched to swimming by the doctor’s recommendation…” The man grew quieter. “ I’m not sure competitive swimming was quite what she meant, but like I said I was a lot like you… A bit too stubborn for my own good.” He looked back at the boy across from him, his small hand still resting on Shiro’s knee. He seemed to have sensed the man’s anxiety, as he went completely still. 

“We found out when I was young that I have BMD.” His voice was firm, providing the strength that Keith was losing the longer he listened. “Basically it means that as time progresses, my muscles will slowly get weaker… But it barely affected me growing up, and even now it’s not bad at all.” He reassured, gripping hard onto the small hand that had rested on his knee. It was a lie that he himself wasn’t quite ready to admit. He remembered well the ache in his muscles when he was in highschool. After a day of school, sports, and lifting boxes in the market, he would spend the little free time he had in the ice bath, his muscles aching. And now, he got into bed after a long day, and his left leg quaked with the strain of the day’s activity weighing down on it… but he could handle it. He was handling it. There wasn’t ever a time that he felt he was too weak to do something, or in too much pain to live his life normally. 

Keith remained still in the silence of the room, his mind desperately trying to latch onto something to keep him grounded. At the moment, the only thing keeping him in this room was his hand that was clasped between Shiro’s large ones. He could feel that the man was waiting for him. Waiting for some sort of answer or reaction.

“Why are you telling me now?” Keith’s voice broke the silence. It was deep and cold, as he tried desperately to banish the pain welling up in his heart. Tried to ignore the hammering in his head, the quickening of his breath. 

“I’ve been going to a cardiologist regularly since we found out about it. With BMD, it’s possible for the heart muscles to weaken as well. But it’s different for everyone. I’ve gone to these appointments all my life just to be sure, but my heart had always been perfectly healthy.”

The word “ _ had” _ echoed in Keith’s mind like a drum.  _ Had _ … in the past tense.

“But... “ Shiro continued, his voice remaining firm yet filled with sympathy and regret as he squeezed tighter to the hand he cherished. The hand of the boy he had promised himself to love and never to hurt, and he was doing just that. The quirk of keith’s eyebrows, the wavering of his eyes… Shiro couldn’t stand that he was the one that was the cause of the pain in his heart. “A few months ago, we found out that it had finally begun to weaken my heart” The air in the room seemed to grow cold, the space in between the two men suddenly feeling incredibly distant. “It’s very early on, and there’s plenty of time, years in fact, a lot of them, before it actually should be of any significant risk.”

“Risk?” The boy across from him asked, his voice strained. He stared deep gray eyes down at his lap, refusing to meet his brother’s.

“As heart muscles weaken, there’s a larger risk of a heart attack.” He explained “But like I said, it’ll be a really long time until anything actually-”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Keith yanked his hand free from the larger man’s grasp, standing up quickly from the bed. 

“Keith I-” The man tried desperately to pull him back. Every second that went by, he could see the wall Keith had been building crumbling to the ground. In his eyes he could see storms and his brother, his friend, his son, was stuck right in the middle of it.

“No. You said everything was fine. Everything is not fine Shiro you’re dying!” 

“I’m not dying Keith, I just-” 

“You’re just what Shiro? Getting closer to it?! Either way you’re losing your life sooner than you should! I’m still losing you sooner than I thought!”

“Keith you aren’t going to lose me, If you just listen to-”

“When were you planning on telling me before Adam convinced you to do it now huh? Were you going to wait until your legs were so weak that you couldn’t get yourself out of bed? Would you have told me then? Would you have told me as you were having a heart attack in front of my eyes?” Keith’s voice cracked, streams of tears pouring from his gray eyes. His face was twisted in pain and anger. He was falling apart before Shiro’s eyes. “Or would you have made Adam tell me outside your hospital room, that my dad died of a heart attack because of a disease he’d been hiding from me since the day I came home?!” Each word from the the boy’s lips tore Shiro apart from the inside out. Keith could see how his words painted the picture of pain on Shiro’s face, but he couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t stop screaming and crying. 

“You should’ve told me sooner.” He coughed out, his nose beginning to run. I thought I could trust you to tell me everything! I trusted you!”

Shiro stood and took a step towards the boy. “Keith I’m sorry.” He comforted, his voice warm and deep. “I just need some time to explain. Everything will be okay I promise.”

“You’ve had five years to explain.” Keith hissed, hurtling the room into a consuming silence for a few dreadful moments before he turned and took a heavy step towards the door.

Shiro reached a large hand towards the boy’s shoulder “Keith please don’t do-” A loud smack filled the silence of the room, as the boy swatted his brother’s hand away.

“Don’t touch me.” 

The words seemed to hang dead in the air as he grabbed for his keys and slammed the door behind him. 

  
  


Shiro was left in his boy’s room alone, and the most scared he had ever been in his entire life. He looked wearily down at his shaking hands, falling back to sit once again on the edge of the bed. His head dropped, and his fingers gripped tightly to the dark locks of his hair. 

The only thing he could see was the pain in his son’s eyes. The tears that fell down his pale cheeks. The image of him yelling, screaming. The sound of his voice cracking in anger and pain. And every little detail was all his fault.

“Takashi.” In a moment, Adam was by his side, the scent of him enveloping his senses. His strong arms pulled Shiro into his neck, and wrapped around him. 

“Adam.” he whispered. “I’ve never seen him like that before. I-”

“Shh it’s okay.” he comforted, petting his husband’s hair delicately. “Everything will be okay.” He spoke softly, his words flowing like silk. “Keith is the toughest boy I know, and he loves you more than anything. He’s hurt and scared right now, he just needs some time to process everything… I promise you my love, he’ll be back. You haven’t lost him. And when he comes back, we’ll all work through this together.”

Adam pulled away and gripped his lover by the shoulders, gazing deeply into his eyes. 

“Stop being guilty that you have me right now while he’s alone. I know that’s what you’re thinking, and nothing good will come out of it.”

“He’ll never trust me again.”

“He will… But the best thing we can do right now is wait for him to come around. Even though it’s impossible my love, try not to dwell on it. It isn’t your fault that you’re ill, and he knows that as well. I promise he will come back to you. You’re his whole world.” Adam stroked his husband’s cheek with his thumb, offering a reassuring smile.

“Mine too” he added, releasing his husband’s face and leaning back. “My dumb, insufferable, extra, obnoxious-”

“Okay I got it Adam.” Shiro allowed a small chuckle to escape despite his guilt, before returning to the quiet of the room. The atmosphere felt so empty despite the two men occupying the space, with only the gentle humming of the computer fan to fill the silence.

“You know I always wondered if he thought of me like a father.” The man smiled solemnly. “He’s only ever introduced me as his brother… I didn’t think the first time I’d hear him call me dad would be… well… like that…”

“Takashi.” Adam tried.

“I know, I know.” He whispered looking back into his husband’s eyes. “Thank you, Adam.”

They sat for a few minutes in the silence of the boy’s room before Shiro spoke again.

“Did you see him before he left?” He asked, eyelocked on the screen on Keith’s desk.

“I only saw the back of his head for a second before he was gone… why?”

“Did he happen to grab a coat?”

  
  


Keith hadn’t known where he was going in the darkness, his plan was only to drive. But the streets looked familiar, and it wasn’t until he had reached his destination, that he realized where his mind had taken him. 

He parked the motorcycle, leaving his helmet hanging on one of the handlebars. 

His feet were almost silent as he walked alone in the darkness. He didn’t need to see to navigate his way through. He had walked here many times before. He could probably make the trek with his eyes closed. 

The cold air nipped at his bare arms and at his nose that turned red in the night air. It wasn’t until he sat down, feeling the cold cement against his back that he finally allowed himself to feel something.

“I know what you’re going to say.” The boy rasped, his voice almost completely gone.

“It’s not his fault, and I shouldn’t have yelled at him… Just like it wasn’t your fault, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” Keith tilted his head back and looked up at the stars. 

“I guess I haven’t learned anything.” he sighed.

He tried counting the stars, they were sparkling even brighter than they had the night of the party. But as he searched the sky, his vision blurred, warm tears leaking from his eyes. 

“Dad I can’t do it again.” He whispered to the stars above, his voice so broken it was barely 

audible at all. “I can’t lose my father again… Please…” he cried out, his voice breaking out into sobs. “Please don’t take him away from me. I need him… Please…” 

The boy raked small fingers through his dark hair, the hair clip falling lost somewhere in the dirt. His whole body was quaking, from the cold or from his cries, he wasn’t sure… Most likely it was both. He allowed himself to fall apart for a bit longer before he had to pull himself together. Shiro had lied like his father, and he was angry and hurt, but the difference was, Shiro was still alive. This time he could make it right. Be there for the man who accepted him without a second thought. He’d be strong for Shiro, and for Adam who was likely feeling a pain similar to his own. 

Slowly, one breath after another, he began to calm himself down, his cries turning into whimpers, and then back into silence. 

“Just give him more time.” he whispered, resting his head back on the cold cement behind him. Feeling the chill for the first time that night, he pulled his legs in close and looked up. Once his vision was finally clear, he began to count the stars again. 

The boy fell asleep under the light of the stars, shivering, his back pressed against his father’s. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there everyone!   
> Since this was a bit of a serious chapter, bloops were few and far between...   
> Also... I AM SORRY  
> I look forward to hearing everyone's thought/reactions, so feel free to comment. Also if anyone has questions I would love to answer them! (No spoils;)   
> I appreciate you reading this far guys! See you next time!  
> Love,   
> Damari5


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Splish splash goes the alcohol stash...

## Chapter Nine

“If it isn’t the one and only Lance Mclame!” The girl shouted as she ran out of the building like a hurricane, her backpack bouncing as she trotted up to the taller man’s side.

“Pidge, I already told you, if you’re going to insult me at least do it better.” He quipped, beginning to walk. 

“Give me a break I’ve been in class for like six hours.” She groaned dragging her feet.

“Two Pidge, you’ve been in class for two hours.” 

“Same difference.” The girl looked up at Lance pleadingly. She outstretched her arms and made a grabbing motion with her fingers like a child.

“No.”

“Pleeeease.” She whined. “I’m so tired I’ll collapse before we even get there.”

“How much did you even sleep last night?”

“I didn’t.”

“Jesus Pidge what the hell.” He cursed, stopping in his tracks to look down at her.

“I was busy.” She shrugged.

Lance sighed, staring into her brown puppy dog eyes. She was worse at taking care of herself than he was…

“Fine.” he huffed, planting large feet firmly on the ground, spreading his arms out behind his back.

Suddenly she was full of energy, running around and springing onto his back laughing.

“Jesus Christ Pidge!” he shrieked, swaying with her unexpected weight. “You’re fucking heavy.” he sputtered. 

“It’s my backpack noodle arms now lets go.” She pointed a short arm over his shoulder. “To the off brand ice cream!”

Lance rolled his eyes, and began walking once again. It was cold as all hell outside for an early December afternoon, and his gray hoodie wasn’t really doing a justice. The trees were bare and they cracked with the wind. Although heavy, Pidge’s weight on his back and next to his face at least warmed him up a bit. Her breath tickled his neck and cheek that was no doubt rosy from the cold. 

“Hey Pidge.” He hesitated.

“Hm?”

“Have you uh… talked to Keith lately?” He whispered, his voice hitting the air in a puff of steam. He wasn’t going to ask… In all honesty he was afraid to hear the answer as to why Keith had become distant. The fact that the little emo shit might just not want anything to do with him anymore crossed his mind. A stuffed hippo doesn’t exactly make up for accidentally calling out his MIA parents. Especially because Lance had been too much of a wuss to even apologize.

Pidge shifted on Lance’s back as he carried her through the cold.

“No… I’ve tried calling every day since we went to the zoo… no answer.” She paused dropping her chin onto Lance’s shoulder. “He quit his job too… the manager told me yesterday.” 

“He quit?” he questioned, concern resting deep in his voice. Whatever was going on with Keith was a lot worse than Lance had thought. He had figured the boy had gotten sick again, or was just avoiding Lance because he was still angry… but two weeks is a long time to be MIA, especially when it came to skipping classes.

“Has he been in class?”

Lance shook his head and let out a long breath. “Today was the first day he was there in the past two weeks.” 

“What’d he look like?” Pidge asked, turning to look at him, her eyes searching frantically for answers. 

“He just looked… like he wasn’t there.” he trailed off, remembering the distant look in his friends eyes. “Like he  **was** there obviously, but his mind wasn’t… and… “

“And?” Pidge pressed.

“And he had bags under his eyes. They just looked… empty.”

He had smiled at Keith when he entered the room like he always did, but the boy just looked right through him. Like he wasn’t even there. Something had to have happened for him to just fall off the radar like that. He didn’t think much of it when he was just ignoring Lance, but the fact that he was ignoring Pidge too was strange. It was definitely bad.

“Shit.” Pidge cursed under her breath. “Did something happen in the car after Hunk dropped me off?”

“No. Nothing. Why do you ask?” 

“Well because he didn’t show up to work that morning, so it must’ve happened that night.”

Lance recalled the last time he had seen him… In the apartment building lobby. 

“Last I saw he was in the lobby, smiling the biggest I’ve ever seen from him… What could have happened?” 

“Why were you in the lobby?” she wondered giving him a suspecting look. 

“That’s not what’s important.” He defended, looking off at some birds flying across the sky. No way in hell he would tell anyone about the little hippo plushie… and he doubted Keith would dare tell anyone either… it probably was sitting in some trash can anyway… Stupid of him thinking that it was a good idea.

“Well,” He sighed. “What are we gonna do?” He wasn’t sure when Keith went from being an emo asshole who threw him up against the wall first meeting to someone that he would actually consider a friend.  _ Maybe that night at the library, _ he supposed, getting to know what he was really like. A literal demon when Lance had kissed his small hand, and a literal angel when he refused to leave a kitten behind… Or maybe it was out on the ice when Keith had told him to live his life for himself… he was the first to ever care enough to tell Lance to care for himself… That must’ve been it… right?

“We?” The girl questioned, the sound of her voice pulling Lance back to the present.

He just nodded. We.

  
  


* * *

  
  


They sat in a booth near the back wall, digging into their frozen yogurt as they talked. 

“So here’s the plan.” Pidge asserted pointing a spoon at Lance. “Friday. My house. Six o'clock. I’m hosting a little get together for just the friend group before winter break. A Christmas party.” She explained. “We’ll order take out, have drinks, and just hang out and play games or whatever… You in? ”

“Totally, but how do you expect to get Keith to show up?.” Lance questioned.

“Don’t worry about that.” She assured waving a hand at him. “I’ll get him to come. Trust me. All you need to do is show up.”

“Do you think I should apologize?” His words muffled as he took a large bite of his frozen yogurt.

“Apologize? Apologize for what?”

“For what I said at the party.” 

“YOU STILL HAVEN’T APOLOGIZED?!” She screeched, earning glares from at least four other patrons in the shop. “Well no wonder he friggin hates you!”

“Hate is strong wo-” 

“Obviously you should fucking apologize you big eared dick wad.”

“Big eared?” he pouted grabbing at his earlobes.

“Jesus Christ you’re helpless.” she sighed looking him right in his obviously offended blue eyes. “Plan revision… All you have to do is show up… AND apologize to Keith for being a hormonal asswipe.”

Lance sighed loudly poking at his frozen yogurt with a spoon. “Yes ma'am.”

  
  


* * *

  


Two weeks had passed since Shiro had told Keith about his illness. Saying that the boy took it hard was an understatement. After he stormed out that night, he didn’t return until early in the morning, covered in dirt, his hair a mess. Adam had tried to talk to him, but he looked right through the man as he passed by to his room. Three days passed of complete silence, Keith hadn’t spoken a word, or left the house. It wasn’t until early the fourth morning that something changed… 

Shiro was in the bathroom with the door open as Adam made breakfast in the kitchen like he did almost every morning. He had just gotten out of the shower and slipped his pants and a shirt on before he saw Keith emerge from the doorway. His dark hair poked at his gray eyes. His expression was soft, he looked vulnerable for the first time in days. He appeared thinner, though it may have just been Shiro’s imagination. 

“Keith?” he had whispered, as their eyes connected. 

The next thing the man knew, Keith buried his small face in his chest hugging him tight.

Without hesitation Shiro wrapped large arms around the boy, holding his head with a hand. He was shaking. 

“It’s okay buddy.” Shiro’s voice rumbled deeply in his chest. “I’m here, always. Don’t be afraid.”

He held him tight, yet gentle all the same. He was afraid of hurting him. He had been so damn scared that he’d lose Keith over this that he held on too tight. With the boy in his arms he felt just how small he really was… how vulnerable. His personality always made him seem much bigger than he really was. It only made Shiro that much more afraid for him, and that much more determined to protect him. 

“Aren’t you?” Keith’s muffled voice spoke from within his arms.

He was. Shiro was extremely afraid. He was afraid he wouldn’t be around forever like he promised. He was afraid that one day he wouldn’t be able to move like he always has. He was afraid Adam and Keith would finally see his shortcomings. He was afraid, and he supposed it was time that he stopped hiding it. Because Keith was turning out just the same as him, and he knew if he continued to bottle up all his fears, it would only torture him.

“I am.” He admitted, looking at their reflection in the mirror. “But it’s a good thing I’ve got a little emo warrior and a nerdy rocket scientist on my side to support me.” The man chuckled ruffling the hair on the back of Keith’s head. As he pulled the boy away from him, large hands on his shoulders, he looked into Keith’s eyes. A steely glare had gazed back at him, and he knew that the boy would be alright. He was ignorant to think that a man like Keith could break so easily.

“I’m sorry.” He said, his features remaining firm.

“I know.” Shiro smiled. “I am too… Now why don’t we go eat whatever that smell is wafting through that door.”

  
  


A week and a half later, and things at home had basically returned to normal. But they weren’t… At least not for Keith… not yet… 

The news about Shiro had caught him so off guard that he was having a hard time adjusting back to his everyday life. He let Adam and Shiro believe he was still going to class and to his shifts at work… but he wasn’t. He wasn’t sure why either… maybe he was just afraid of having to explain why he was gone… but the longer he waited to return, the worse it would get when it came time to make up a reasonable lie. So he ended up doing the thing he does best. Avoiding. And he was doing a pretty damn good job of it. That was until he received that text from Pidge Tuesday night.

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_Keith. I know you haven’t been answering me lately and although I don’t know the reason why I hope you’re doing okay (But if everything is actually fine prepare for my fucking wrath.)  As soon as you’re ready to talk, you know I’m here for you. Whatever it is that’s making you ignore your bestest friend in the whole wide world, we’ll work through it together… sooo pleeeaaaaassseeee do me this one favor bc ur worrying the hell out of me._ **

 

**From: Pigeon**

**_6:00. Friday night. My house. It’s a very small get together… probs just me, you, Hunk, Lance, and possibly Romelle and Allura. BE THERE._ **

 

He didn’t plan on attending… honestly he didn’t. But the guilt was digging at him everytime he looked at his phone. He had been receiving a steady spam of messages and calls from Pidge for the last two weeks, but after she sent him that text, she hadn’t tried to contact him since. The sudden cease of attention made him realize that despite how absolutely aggravating it was…

The constant messaging at least made him feel like he was being missed. 

Not to mention how detached from reality he was beginning to feel… 

turns out he was a bit more attached to his friends than he cared to admit. He missed laughing, and bickering, and maybe even missed their crackhead culture a bit… but just a bit.

So maybe that’s why he found himself walking into Pidge’s house friday night. The last two weeks had been anything but happy, and he supposed he was in the mood for a change of pace. 

He used his key to open Pidge’s door instead of drawing more attention by knocking. She had given him one years ago when he had finally told her about his living situation. Keith had told her that the Holt’s had always felt like family to him, and he supposed the key was her way of saying they thought the same.

The whole house smelled heavenly, like baking cookies, and he could hear the chatter of his friends coming from the kitchen.

He moved as quietly as he could towards the doorway, hoping to go unnoticed for a few minutes so he could observe.

Pidge was standing on the counter ( _ as she always did when she couldn’t reach something) _ with her head completely buried in one of the cabinets. Romelle and Allura stood a few paces behind her at the counter, tubes of icing in their hands. They were standing over a pan of cookies, surrounded by sprinkles and other various toppings, a good deal of flour and icing on their faces and hands. Across the kitchen by the stove Hunk was cracking eggs in a dish, and Lance was stirring some dough in a large bowl. He had about two times the amount of flour on him than the rest of them, and a peaceful look on his face despite the chaos of the room.

They all seemed so happy, and he enjoyed watching them, but his chest felt heavy. The world goes on no matter what, and he couldn’t help but feeling while he was gone it went on without him… His friends went on without him. He took a step back. They’d all be just fine if he wasn’t there, it was comforting and agonizing. 

“Hey Asshole.” A voice called out over the chaos. “You just gonna stand there or are you going to help with these?” He motioned his head to the ball of dough in his hands. 

“You’re two hours late Keith. The least you can do is help.” Pidge’s muffled voice echoed in the cabinet. Apparently he wasn’t as sneaky as he thought.

Lance’s eyes bored into him as he wordlessly took off his coat and made his way for the sink to wash his hands.

“Come stand next to me.” 

Keith followed his orders despite a slight twinge of anger, coming up to stand next to the man. They hovered over a large bowl of dough on the counter, that of which Lance’s hands were covered in. 

“Just take the dough and roll it into a ball like this and place it on the pan. Got it?” 

Keith nodded grabbing a handful of dough. Having Lance teach him like he’s four years old reminded him of that god forsaken night at the cafe. Luckily, rolling dough into balls was easier than druggist folds.

Next to Lance, he felt… off. So much had happened between them that they never talked about, and it was definitely starting to affect the mood when they were together… Or maybe it was all in Keith’s head. After so much time away, he’d feel out of place with anyone tonight.

“You know Pidge really missed you Cocaine.” Lance spoke quietly, his eyes remaining on the ball of dough he was rolling in his hands. Keith looked up at him. At his powder covered arms sticking out from rolled sleeves. At his blue eyes that stared down but seemed as though they were looking somewhere else. “We all did.” The man added, slapping his dough ball onto the tray and grabbing another handful.

Keith nodded, unsure of how to answer.  _ We all did _ huh?

Lance cleared his throat obnoxiously. “And I’d like to kindly request you not ignore Pidge ever again.” He quipped. “Because I’M the one who had to deal with her wrath.”

“I’ve seen plenty of Pidge’s wrath.” Keith chuckled to himself. “I wasn’t aware anyone else would be able to survive it.” He side eyed the man next to him, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

“HA.” Lance laughed. “If I can survive your wrath Cocaine, I can survive anything.”

Keith considered the thought. Was it three bruises he had inflicted on the guy? Nowhere close to some people who crossed him… But still it felt like way too many. He craned his neck to look at Lance’s face.

“Perfectly healed up.” the man said as if he was proud of the fact. “Guess you aren’t as strong and scary as you thought.”

“Tch.” 

Keith had broken cheekbones, noses, ribs, fingers, an arm… No doubt there were more, but he couldn’t remember each one. Someone as fragile as Lance would have bones that snapped easily… He was aware off all of these things when he had punched him that night. Something he learned after many fights… self control was perhaps one of the strongest weapons… 

Absentmindedly, Keith reached his hand back in the bowl for more dough, but instead his hand closed around something else. For a moment he held Lance’s long fingers in his hand before registering what he had grabbed on to.

“What? You want me to kiss it again?” Lance smirked. Maybe their relationship hadn’t changed all that much. Lance was still an arrogant asshole who was a hair’s width away from a punch in the ribs.

Keith yanked his hand back. “Bastard.” he snarled, turning away to wash his hands off in the sink. The bowl was empty.

Lance chuckled behind Keith’s back as he placed the pan into the oven. He had missed teasing Keith… though the feeling may not be mutual, but at least for a moment… it had felt like things were back to normal.

 

Later, they all retired to the living room with plates full of homemade cookies on the table between all of them. Keith had joined the girls in decorating them after he finished with Lance. His cookies looked pretty damn good if he did say so himself. Hunk and Romelle had volunteered to clean things up in the kitchen while the rest started a round of Mario Kart. Pidge, Lance, and Allura all sat on the large couch in front of the tv, controllers in their hands. Keith sat on the floor below the couch, Pidge’s legs resting over his shoulders. 

“Which one of you bitches blue shelled me?!” Allura snarled leaning forward on the couch.

“Sorry not sorry Llura.” Lance said as she punched him lightly on the shoulder, his smile wide with mischief.

_ Llura _ … The nickname didn’t settle well in Keith’s ears. He was in third place, two red shells sitting pretty in his inventory. They just needed to get a little closer to the finish line, and he’d be golden… 

A green shell hit him from the side.

“Rat.” he muttered under his breath, recovering from the attack.

Pidge cackled as she sped past him in the fucking baby crib car. He despised playing this game with her. Nothing brought out her inner demon more than screwing him over repeatedly in this goddamned game. 

“Pidge get your turnip head looking ass out of here.” Lance warned, their cars bumping into each other.

The finish line was approaching quickly. Keith threw the first shell, then the next. Chaos erupted.

There was screaming, lots of screaming, and Keith felt Pidge’s heel slam down into his chest from where it was resting. He placed second.

“Well that was fun!” Allura chimed with a bright smile. The rest of them shot glares in her direction. How dare she be so cheery and humble about wiping the floor with them. What happened to “ _ Death cup bitches” _ ?

“Another round?” She asked innocently.

“No.” They all grumbled in unison, chucking their controllers onto the table. They sat in silence for a few moments contemplating their rage, as Romelle and Hunk finally entered from the kitchen. They both had bright smiles on their faces, finishing whatever conversation they were having in the kitchen. 

“WAIT STOP!” Pidge screeched, halting the two in the doorway. They looked at eachother confused and then back at Pidge. An evil smirk slowly creeped across the little one lips as she pointed a short finger above their heads. Mistletoe.

Lance and Pidge giggled like children as both poor souls under the mistletoe shifted where they stood. 

“You gotta do it Hunk, you gotta kiss her.” Pidge pushed. Keith shook his head. If it had been him under there he would’ve just kept walking… but he supposed Hunk and Romelle were both a bit too kind for that… maybe innocent was the right word… Romelle looked slightly caught off guard, but was still smiling nonetheless… Hunk on the other hand...

His eyes pleaded his friends for help, but they just laughed back in his face. 

“I- no I can’t- Pidge why would you e-” Before Hunk could finish his broken sentence, Romelle was on her tiptoes connecting her lips to his cheek. The poor guy turned shades of red that Keith thought were only possible for a tomato.

She looked back into his astonished face and flashed a cheerful grin. He laughed. They all knew that they were interested in each other. They bonded pretty quickly at the party, both being designated drivers, they weren’t allowed to drink...And at the zoo, they were basically inseparable. Whenever Keith saw them together they were smiling or acting silly together, even now as they sat on the floor across from the couch, they were joking around about something...

 

Keith distanced himself from in front of the couch to sit somewhere off to the side. He didn’t like not being able to see everyone without turning around. At least he thought he didn’t… until he caught sight of Lance and Allura watching some video Lance had pulled up on his phone. Their faces glowed in the light of the device, their smiles made clear. They laughed, Keith looked away. Again it just didn’t sit right, and he didn’t know why. Or maybe it was the reason that didn’t make sense… He shook his head. He was the one not making any sense.

 

They all helped themselves to the Holt’s alcohol stash before returning back to the living room. Keith wasn’t exactly sure what was in his cup but whatever it was, it was definitely stronger than beer. It was a small mercy. 

After an hour or so of talking and fooling around, Allura suggested they play never have I ever, and Keith could honestly say he had never ever wanted to leave a room more than in that moment.  However to spice things up a bit Pidge suggested that instead of putting down fingers, they take a drink… Perfect… As if Keith wasn’t already a bit tipsy to begin with.

Allura started it off with “Never have I ever gotten arrested.” Real original.

Keith tried to take a sip as discreetly as possible, eyeing everyone else in the room.

“Keith!” Hunk scolded. “What did you do?”

All eyes turned to him. He just shrugged it off. 

“Some guy on the street grabbed his ass ” Pidge chirped.

“So?” Lance asked quirking up an eyebrow.

“So I broke his fingers.” He said with indifference as if that answer was obvious.

“Jesus Christ.” Lance swore. Maybe Keith really had been going easy on him when he took that hit at the party. You would never guess a face as small and doll-like like his would be such a demon. Nor would you guess that a body so small would be so strong… he supposed that had been that pervert’s mistake. Lance allowed a smirk to form on his lips as he shook his head, but when he looked up, Keith was already walking away.

 

Keith stalked into the kitchen, pouring more of whatever that drink was into his cup.

Shiro had been the one who picked him up from the station that day. When Keith had walked out with his head down, Shiro had smiled at him. Smiled. There wasn’t anger in his eyes then, just worry.

He put an arm around Keith and walked with him to the car.

“You know buddy, as proud as I am of you for breaking that perverts fingers. He’s not worth going to jail for.”

“You’re not mad?” he asked looking curious eyes up at the man.

“Would the lesson stick more if I were?”

Keith couldn’t help feeling that Shiro had always seen the world a bit different, perhaps a bit clearer than everyone else. He really came to cherish his view.

He had ruffled Keith’s dark hair with a hand and smiled again. “Let’s go home.” he said.

 

Keith shook the memory from his mind, taking another sip, as he slid himself down the side of the counter onto the floor. Did he sit because he was tired of standing or because standing was getting hard? 

Adam gave him the scolding of his life when he got home that day. Keith smirked just thinking about it. Their teaching styles were very different to say the least…

Keith couldn’t recall a time when Shiro yelled at him… like ACTUALLY yelled.

Yet Keith had screamed in his face without a second thought. Stupid, he was stupid. He was stupid for getting arrested too, and Shiro had forgiven him then as well.

He deserved to be yelled at. Unlike the day he was arrested, when Keith returned home after he screamed in Shiro’s face, Adam didn’t yell at him. No one did. The guilt ate him alive… yet so did the lies. He locked himself away for days waiting for the storm that never hit. Just soft spoken words from the other side of his door. Forgiveness and understanding that he never even asked for. He didn’t deserve.

Keith’s cup was empty. When did he finish his drink?

Slowly the boy lifted himself up from the floor. His friends must be wondering where he went, but as he took a step towards the doorway he heard them erupt with laughter… It would seem they hadn’t noticed. 

He stepped back and poured himself another drink.

  
  


A lot of time had passed since Keith had walked into the kitchen, and Lance was starting to get worried. He had figured he was refilling his drink, but the boy hadn’t returned… hopefully he didn’t make a break for it while they were all distracted. He still hadn’t gotten the chance to apologize to him. 

After Keith had left, they ended up unintentionally ditching the game to tell funny stories instead. Lance had told the rest of the twin's prank that had left him unconscious in the hallway. They all laughed, but the story still felt incomplete without Keith’s stifled giggles and his loud howl at the end. It was incomplete without him getting to see that smile that made time stop.

He stood up slowly, but before he could take a step forward, A hand grabbed the back hem of his shirt.

Allura looked up at him, her face red from laughing. “Where are you going?”

“I’m just refilling my drink, I’ll be back in a sec.”

He wasn’t sure why he lied to her, he shouldn’t need an excuse to check on his friend. It had just… come out.

He froze in the threshold of the kitchen, his heart stopping for a moment. 

Keith was lying in the middle of the floor, his cup knocked over on the ground next to him.

“Keith oh my god are you alright?” Lance rushed to his side, turning him over so that he faced him. His breath was steady at least, his chest rising and falling almost peacefully. “Hey buddy come on.” Lance tapped his face lightly. “Pidge can you come here?” he called into the living room. When he looked back down, dark eyes glared up at him from under hooded lashes.

“Slap me again and I’ll pull your intestines out your ass and strangle you with them.”

Lance let out a long sigh of relief. He was still an asshole… but at least he wasn’t dead. 

“What are you doing on the floor?” He asked irritated, daring to stare into Keith’s face. The kid had Lance scared out of his mind.

“Taking a fucking nap.” 

“You scared the hell out of me.” He said observing the boy’s face. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes remained hooded.

“Your face is scaring the hell out of me, so leave me be.”

Lance rolled his eyes. Drunk. Keith was drunk off his ass. Literally.

“You’ve summoned me?”

Lance just gave her a look.

“What the hell is Keith doing on the floor?”

“Not sleeping apparently.” Keith snapped turning his back towards them.

“He’s drunk.” Pidge deadpanned.

Lance shrugged, standing up to meet Pidge by the doorway.

“He must’ve just come in here and guzzled it by the state he’s in.” he talked low enough so that the man on the ground couldn’t hear. 

“What should we do?”

Lance gazed down at Keith, who was now sitting up against the counter, running fingers through his messy hair. Why on earth did he drink so damn much? He must’ve known what a lightweight he was after getting tipsy at the halloween party off of one game of beer pong.

“I can drive him home.” he sighed.

“No you can’t, we’ve been drinking.”

“The only thing I’ve been drinking is soda.” He assured. “Do you think you could watch him a minute while I pack up?”

“Sure.”

 

He grabbed two bags, one for cookies, one for the possibility of puke. He told the group that Keith had gotten a fever and was fumbling from the dizziness. He wasn’t quite sure why he lied again… something about Keith getting drunk felt like it was because of a more personal reason than what was on the surface. 

He stood in the doorway again, everything packed in his bag.

“Alright Keith time to go.”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah yeah, come here.” He hoisted the man up and grabbed him around the waist, moving one of Keith’s arm’s over his shoulder. 

They made it out of the door pretty quickly considering the circumstances. Keith was doing a pretty good job of staying on his feet. All of their friends looked worried as all hell, and Lance felt bad that he couldn’t provide them with more information. He’d come up with a more in depth excuse in the morning. It was pitch black outside with nothing to light up the shadows except the stars and few crappy street lights. As they shuffled down the driveway, Lance heard the boy in his arms mumble something to himself.

“Hm?” he hummed, focusing his eyes on the ground to avoid tripping.

“You smell like happy.” the boy said, blinking slowly.

“Like happy?” Lance laughed.

“Like safe.” Keith confirmed.

He sagged a bit more in Lance’s grasp as the man supported the weight of Keith’s body with his own. Is that what Keith thought of him? Happy and safe were two words Lance was glad to be for Keith. He desperately hoped that the alcohol wasn’t entirely to blame for the boy's words.

“That’s good.” Lance said.

They finally made it to the car which had felt like it had been miles away based on the amount of effort it took to get there.

Lance swung open the passengers side door and set Keith down in the seat as gently as possible. He groaned when his back hit the seat.

“What’s wrong?”

“The seat’s colder than my fucking heart.” He hugged his arms into his chest, breathing warm air into his hands.

“Oh shit, Keith your coat!”

“I’m not wearing one dunce face.”

“I know, just tell me where it is and I’ll go back inside and get it.”

“No.”    
“What? Why not?”

“You have to stay here, you’re taking me home.”

“I’ll still take you home after I grab it.”

“No.”

Lance sighed into the night air, watching his breath come out in a cloud. Why must he be so goddamn difficult?

“Fine. Whatever. Just take mine, and you can grab your coat when you pick up your motorcycle.”

Lance peeled his jacket off and laid it across the back of Keith’s shoulders. The boy just looked at him blearily, his cheeks still pink from the alcohol or the cold. Lance tried not to think too hard about the feeling he got in his chest when he looked at the man with his jacket draped over his shoulders. Wrapping him in his own scent. His.

He shook his head. Why was it that Keith was the drunk one but he was the one unable to think straight in all definitions of the word?

“Here.” he said, holding a paper bag out to keith. “If you puke, PLEASE do it in there.”

Before the raven haired boy could retaliate, Lance shut the door. 

The cold air hit his arms as he walked around the front of the car.  _ Fucking Keith _ . It would seem there was never really a dull moment with the guy.

Lance hopped into the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. He had a feeling it was going to be a long ride.

He turned to look behind him, backing the car out of the driveway. He spared a glance at Keith who was staring at him like he had two heads.

“What?” Lance laughed.

“Fuck you and your fucking arm.” 

‘What’s wrong with it?”   
“Get it off the back of my seat.”   
“I need to look behind me.”

“Yeah, and I need to not look at you, so fucking stop.”

Lance shifted the car into drive and removed his arm from the seat. It definitely was going to be a long drive to Keith’s apartment. 

  
  


The first few minutes were quiet. Keith seemed to have settled down for the most part. He just gazed out the window, the reflection of his face in the glass looked sad.

“Hey.” Lance said quietly. “Listen, I never got to apologize… or I guess I just didn’t do it because I was scared.”

“Scared?”

“Yeah.” Lance confirmed.

“Oh.” Keith seemed disappointed with the answer, hurt even. He slumped against the window, his forehead pressed up against it.

“I was afraid if I apologized, and things still stayed the same… you stayed gone… I wouldn’t know how to fix it then.” He kept his eyes trained on the road, feeling Keith’s gaze boring into him from the passenger's seat. “But that wasn’t my point… my point is, I’m sorry for freaking out and screaming at you. What I said was inconsiderate and I was being an asshole… and I realize you probably won’t even remember this conversation so I’ll apologize again when you’re sober.”

“I was scared too… I  _ am  _ scared.” Keith mumbled back.

“What’re you scared of?” Lance wasn’t  aware the guy could feel fear. He was always just out being an angry little badass. It was hard to believe Keith Kogane was scared of anything.

“Hmmmm.” He drew out the sound, his face pressed against the window. “Well I’m scared of spiders, and Adam when he gets angry.”

Lance’s heart sank a bit in his chest. Why?

“Who’s Adam?” he asked. A boyfriend? Lance never even stopped to think that Keith had a life outside of their little group.

“A demon.” Keith said. “He scared me more when he yelled than Jae did.”

Jae? Suddenly Lance felt like a stranger… who were these people? 

“But maybe that’s just because I love Adam. Hurts more when you get yelled at by someone you care about.”

“Yeah.” Lance agreed quietly. Love. Keith loves Adam… whoever he was Lance couldn’t help but feel...no.

It seemed wrong letting Keith spill his guts like this. He would’ve never said any of this sober. He shouldn’t let him go on… but Lance was curious, and selfish.

“Who is-“

“Fuck you and your fucking arm.”

“Wha- my… What’s your damn problem with my arms?”

“You’re doing the fucking thing and you know it.” Keith sat up and growled at him, the jacket falling of his shoulder from the movement.

Lance fixed it with his free hand, placing it gently back on the boy’s shoulder.

“What thing?” 

“The fucking hot guy drive with one arm thing. With your smarmy fucking smirk and perfect skin. Get the hell out with _what_ _thing_?” Keith imitated Lance with a stupidly deep voice. “You know the fucking thing you gerbil munching fuck.” 

“Gerbil fucking what?!” Lance shrieked. He laughed so hard he struggled to see the road past the tears in his eyes.

Keith’s glare shot spears of ice at him, his arms crossed like and angry child.

“You think my arms are hot cocaine?”

“Not your arms, You, you dumb fuck.”

“Me?” The sheer arrogance in Lance’s smirk was unending. 

“Stop making that face before I break your damn jaw.” 

Keith Kogane thinks he’s hot. Lance felt like he was soaring. He could tell he got under Keith’s skin, but for Keith to say it himself. 

“Didn’t you call my skin perfect? You wouldn’t ruin it.”

“yeah, perfect for punching. Now would you watch the damn road.”

Lance just laughed.

  
  


Two minutes later and Keith was completely knocked out. Lance stole glances at him while he slept. His cheek was pushed up against the glass of the window, the skin on his face bunching up. His hair fell in wisps across his forehead. He slept silently. Peacefully. 

Keith was a puzzle to him. 

One moment he was some hardcore emo gang member who gets in fights and carries a knife around, and the next he’s like a little boy, smiling wide and fanboying over hippos. He cursed at and fought Lance, but he also gave him the most heartfelt advice he had ever gotten from a friend. He’s gifted him at least three bruises, yet he was so careful to take care of Lance when he was in pain. What the hell? The guy was just one huge contradiction.

All Lance knew was that the boy, drunk and asleep, wrapped in his jacket, in the passenger's seat of his car, was someone who made his chest ache in so many different ways. And soon enough he’d have to figure out what exactly that meant.

 

Keith had slept like the dead for the rest of the ride home, completely silent and unmoving. When they finally arrived, Lance had to shake the poor kid awake. He waited for the demon to come out and kick him in the ribs again, but it never did. Keith just rubbed tired eyes with his fingers and looked up at Lance confused.

“We’re at your building. I’ll help you walk up to your apartment.” He spoke softly, helping Keith put his arms through the sleeves of Lance’s jacket. 

“You been smoking?” he asked groggily.

“What?”

“You’re breathing smoke.”

“That’s my breath hitting the cold air dumbass, now let’s go.” Lance smiled softly hoisting Keith to his feet. He supported the boys weight, struggling to close the car door.

 

Unlike his past two visits, the lobby was almost completely empty. He supposed it was late, or at least he assumed so. He hadn’t actually checked the clock in a while. Keith whimpered as they shuffled their way towards the elevators.

“Lance.” 

“Hm?”

“I don’t feel good.”

“I know buddy.” he comforted. “We’re almost there.”

He held onto Keith’s hand and waist a little tighter as the walked. 

Lance pressed the button to the elevator, and they got on without much wait. 

“It was the sixth floor right?”

Keith nodded his head, his eyes still not completely open. Lance pressed the button, but the light didn’t turn on. Again. Again. There was a keyhole. Shit.

He recalled last time they were in the elevator, Keith had used a key…

“Please tell me you have your Key.”

Slowly he reached into his front pocket, revealing a keyring.

“Atta boy Keith!” Lance praised, taking them and sticking it into the keyhole. He pressed six and the button lit up. 

 

Lance stopped outside Keith’s door, resituating the boy in his arms so he could find the right key on the chain.

“Unlocked.” Keith mumbled.

Lance tried the door. He was right, it opened, the scent of clean linen and orange blossoms hitting them as they passed through the threshold. The whole apartment was dark, the furniture nothing more than shadows.

“Which way is your room?” Lance asked, kicking the door closed behind them.

Keith whined. “The couch.”

“You sure?”

A nod.

“Where’s Shiro?” the boy asked as Lance finally set him down on the couch, his muscles singing with relief. 

“Shiro?” Lance asked still standing. “Is that your brother?”

Another nod.

“He must not be home… unless he’s sleeping.” Lance shrugged, checking the time. Eleven PM. Honestly it wasn’t as late as he had thought. 

The boy groaned burying his face into a pillow. 

“No, Keith come on, you have to stay on your side… you’ll drown in your own puke.” He dropped the bag of cookies he packed up on the glass table.

“Ew that’s disgusting!” Keith whispered, his voice cracking in disgust. “What’s wrong with you?”

Keith’s hair was a mess, and his designer brand outfit was wrinkled. Lance’s cheap jacket rested on one of his shoulders. His eyes wouldn’t open all the way, and his voice remained hoarse. Lance looked at him, warmth in his eyes and in his smile.

“I’ll get you some water okay? Just stay on your side.”

 

He checked a few different cabinets before finding the glasses. At least the dishes and things looked average and not like some super fancy china. To be honest the inside of the apartment was nothing like the rest of the building. He was right when he had first come here. The whole place felt cozy and happily lived in. It was big for an apartment, but small enough that it was intimate. There was a heap of drawings hanging on the fridge by magnets. Each with very differing qualities. They went from stick figures to simple drawings, to full out sketches. Were they pictures Keith made when he was a kid?

Each drawing had initials in the corner .

Three stick figures holding hands. One with short black hair, another with fluffier brown hair, and a third… with a goddamn mullet. - T.S.

What looked like a very detailed design for some kind of rocket ship. It was all done in pencil, but it was extremely intricate, and there were even measurements. - A.S.

Two pairs of hands, one coming from each side of the paper. Two were slightly darker in color, the other two lighter. The two darker hands were holding the lighter pair within them, and in the lighter pair, was a bird. A small black bird with a broken wing. - K.K.

Keith Kogane.

Lance opened the fridge and poured water into a glass.

Three different signatures. Three different people. Not pictures from Keith’s childhood.

 

Lance brought the water to Keith, who took a few sips before handing it to Lance to set on the table. 

“If you have to puke do you think you’ll make it to the bathroom in time? Or should I find a trash can?”

The boy laid back down, Lance’s jacket held to his chest.

“Bathroom.” he said, his eyes struggling to stay open. 

“Okay, well remember to stay on your side, and if you feel pukey, book it to the toilet as fast as you can.”

The boy just blinked.

“Okay.” Lance whispered. “Well I’m going to head home… Don’t die or anything... “ He walked around the table and towards the door, but before he could get past the couch, A hand reached out in the darkness and gripped his softly.

Lance froze in the silence of the room, his fingers enveloped by the coldness of Keith’s palm. 

“Don’t leave me…” He whispered into the darkness. 

Lance thanked god for the blackness of the room where his blush was easily hidden. Although he was afraid it was so quiet that Keith would be able to hear the heart that was hammering out of his chest.  _ He’s drunk _ , Lance told himself,  _ he doesn’t know what he’s saying _ . He tried to take a step, the grip on his hand tightened. His hand felt unbelievably hot compared to the cool touch of Keith’s.

“Not again…”  

The words were laced with fear and pain. His voice was shaky, like his whole being quivered at the thought of being alone. Lance felt his heart plummet in his chest.  _ Not again _ . There was so much more of Keith that Lance didn’t know. Sitting in the darkness of his apartment, he wished with everything he had that he could know what was hurting him at this moment. But no matter how bad he wanted that, it was impossible…

So he did the only thing he could do.

He closed his fingers around Keith’s hand, and sat down. 

 

Sapphire eyes gazed down at the boy who was practically curled around where his body sat on the couch. He watched his chest rise and fall with every breath. He studied the curve of his nose, the softness of his cheeks. The way his dark eyelashes contrasted the pale of his skin. The smooth of his lips and the softness of his dark hair. His shirt rode up, exposing a small strip of his toned stomach. Finally his eyes stopped on were Keith’s hand held his own. The grip now limp as the boy was long past asleep. It was a lot smaller, that of which he already knew… but he hadn’t held it like this before, where it seemed to fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. At peace. The boy was resting peacefully, yet Lance felt like he couldn’t breath. 

The weight of the boy’s hand in his… it felt perfect. Lance moved slowly, holding his breath, interlacing their fingers… a new wave of heat, his heart was pounding out of his chest.

_ What the hell was he even thinking _ ? He let go, placing the boy’s hand down gently on the couch and stood up. 

He was afraid. He was absolutely terrified. Lance took a step back, and then another.

He knew what this feeling was. He knew it was there all along, in the back of his mind… But he also knew he couldn’t afford to feel this way. It would complicate so many things. He couldn’t.

_ Don’t leave me. _

He had to get out.

_ Not again. _

What if he woke up? What if he needed something, and Lance was gone?

A blanket on a chair, a few steps away from the couch. He grabbed it, and draped it over Keith as he slept soundly, hugging Lance’s coat to his chest. A pillow. Gently he lifted Keith’s head from the couch, slipping the pillow underneath. Thoughtless, he couldn’t afford to think about it. He let his head back down, the dark hair falling from the boy’s forehead, exposing it to the air. Lance held his breath, but he didn’t even stir.

Keith was safe and warm. He should just leave.

_ Don’t leave me. _

A long sigh

_ Not again. _

The chair looked comfy enough Lance supposed. Just for a little longer. He’d leave before anyone wakes.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It was like a dream. Except this one wasn’t like the nightmares that plagued his nights. It was a good dream… at least he thinks it was.

He could remember fractions of it. Fighting, but he couldn’t remember the words. He remembered closeness, but he didn't’ recoil from it. He accepted it, needed it even, like a support. He remembered his heart practically stopped in his chest, he had felt warm. Someone said something and it meant a lot. But what was it? And  _ who  _ was it?

There was sorrow… pain, he remembered the pang like glass shattering in his lungs. But something eased it… someone? He had felt warmth in his hand that spread across his whole body, he didn’t want them to let go. 

The number two. It was two A.M. Puke in a toilet, he remembered his eyes stung with tears. There was a hand holding his hair, another, rubbing warm circles on his back. Who?

He remembered opening his eyes, darkness, sat in a chair, snoring, sprawled out. They looked uncomfortable… But they were there.

 

He opened his eyes. A pounding headache tortured his thoughts. His mouth was dry. 

There was water on the table, and cookies. Beams of sunlight danced on an empty chair. A smell, something like warmth. Rosewood and vanilla. He couldn’t think straight if he tried, but he didn’t need to. He knew the smell better than he cared to admit.

Fighting with him.

Speaking his mind.

Holding him up.

Taking care of him.

Refusing to leave him.

By his side all night, was Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOPS:
> 
> Keith had been working on another commission in his room around eight o’clock that night while Shiro and Adam hung out in the living room. He had taken up more of them after quitting his job, figuring he’d need the extra money. At the moment he was sketching a female character that someone had commissioned. A warrior… He was having problems with it… for some reason it was a lot harder for him to draw females… probably because the lack there of in his everyday life… He had been exasperatingly running his fingers through his dark hair when he heard Adam call him from the living room.  
> “Hey Keith! Could you come here?”  
> The boy let out a huff air and stood up from his desk, taking a second to stretch his back before moving for the door.
> 
> Shiro and Adam both sat on the couch sharing a blanket and the same pleasant smile.  
> “Could you get the door please?” Shiro said, sticking out his bottom lip in a pout.  
> “Are you kidding me?” Keith scowled.  
> “Nope.” The man chirped.  
> “You’re literally right fucking here.” he argued, motioning a stiff arm at where the two men sat on the couch.  
> “I had a feeling it was for you.” Shiro smiled sweetly.  
> “Unfucking believable.” He cursed as he took heavy steps toward the door right as someone knocked from the other side. Very obnoxiously he may add. It wasn’t your average two tone knock. Simple clean. They knocked about ten very long, loud knocks.
> 
> He swung the door open with ferocity, his eyebrows dipping low. If those two jerk wads on the couch were going to make him answer the door, they’d have to suffer the consequences of Keith’s unrelenting attitude towards whoever was on the other side.  
> sapphire eyes stared back at him from under the light brown waves of his hair. It was… curly?  
> He offered keith a bright smile, his white teeth gleaming. His skin was still the most annoying state of perfect, the bruise on his cheek finally gone after weeks of it staring Keith right in the face. He was smiling, but he was nervous about something… call it intuition…  
> “Ummm Keeeiiithhh?” Pidge’s voice strained as she craned her neck to look Keith in the eyes. His gaze snapped to hers, realizing for like the hundredth time that he’d been staring at Lance. He couldn’t help it…  
> “What the hell are you doing here?” He narrowed dark eyes.  
> “We missed your lovely face.” Pidge chimed, elbowing Lance in the ribs. “Isn’t that right Lance?” she said through clenched teeth. Keith’s icy glare landed once again on Lance’s face.  
> I wouldn’t say I missed it but-”  
> “Just cut the crap already.” Keith hissed, crossing his arms across his chest.  
> They stood in silence for a moment at the mercy of the boy’s icy glare before Pidge spoke again.  
> “Maybe if you had answered my calls than you would know why I’m here.”  
> A flicker of something in Keith’s eyes. Hurt?  
> “Move out of the way.” She said. “We’re coming in.”
> 
> * * *
> 
> “Cocaine that’s a motherfucking triangle.”  
> Keith looked down to the dough he had been shaping in his hand… it was in fact a triangle  
> “How did you possibly fuck that up?”  
> His hands had done it on their own, muscle memory from all the times he spent making rice balls with Shiro… They used to do it a lot when he first came home with them. Keith had eventually recognized it as Shiro’s way of getting him comfortable by giving his hands something to do while they talked… he supposed the current situation wasn’t that different… But did that mean this was Lance’s attempt at making him more comfortable? He was probably just reading too much into it.  
> As Keith was about to crush his little rice ball of dough, Lance’s voice stopped him. “Leave it. I’m sure the girls will have fun decorating something with a little more variety.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Hey guys! Thanks for reading this chapter, I really hope you enjoyed!  
> As always feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and/or questions. I really appreciate the support I've received so far, so thank you so much for sticking with this fic!  
> And thank you to anyone who leaves comments, they really help me stay motivated to keep writing!  
> Thanks again and until next time,  
> Love,  
> Damari5


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old Mcclain's had a farm e I e I oh no

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I feel like all I ever do in the notes is apologize for my extremely slow updates... I'm a creature of habit, therefore, I'm Sorry.  
> It's been a crazy two months and I had lots to do not to mention I'm going through a rough time. I hope everyone who is reading hasn't lost interest. Sorry again for the short hiatus... But I hope you enjoy this next chapter! See you on the flip side! xD

## Chapter Ten

Lance sat on the floor of Pidge’s room, the both of them surrounded by piles among piles of clothes and other things. She claimed that she knew where everything was in her mess of a room, but Lance didn’t believe it for a second. She had asked Lance to help her pack in a whirlwind of spam messages… apparently she had forgotten to pack for her month-long family getaway in Greece. However someone actually manages to forget something like that…

“Hey.” Lance said squinting at the crumpled up list Pidge had given him. “It says you need seven pairs of socks. Where are those?”

“There’s a pyramid of them by the door.” She called over her shoulder from where she stood in front of her closet.

“Of course there is.” Lance sighed, sliding across the floor to the sock pyramid. At least they were in pairs and not mismatched… plus he had to admit that the pyramid of foot gloves was quite impressive. 

“Hey uh… Pidge?” Lance asked, his voice quiet.

“Mhm?”

“I uhm… have a problem.. Of sorts.”

She turned to face him, watching as he looked down, fiddling with his fingers. He had seemed quiet today… tired and fidgety, as if he was nervous about something. Pidge realized that she should’ve called him out on it when she’d noticed. She had gotten so used to dealing with Keith, that she forgot that some people actually WANT to talk about their feelings.

“Go on.” She urged, taking a seat on the floor.

“I think I like someone Pidge… like LIKE like someone.”

“Oh.” She sighed. “Lance we’ve been through this before. I know you have feelings for Allura but she’s with Lotor and-”

“No, it’s not Allura.” He said firmly. “Someone else.” He used to have the biggest crush on Allura. What had happened? It felt like yesterday, he was fawning over her at Lotor’s party, and wishing that she would finally dump the prick. When had his feelings changed?

“Then who? Do I know them?” Pidge asked excitedly, moving so that she sat across from him.

“No. You don’t know them. It’s um… someone from my class… But that’s not the point.” He started to ramble, hoping that if he said it fast enough, it would be just like ripping off a band-aid. “The point is, he’s a dude.”

She blinked, a terrifying silence sweeping over the room for a few seconds. He knew Pidge would be okay with it… so why was he so scared? Why were these few moments of nothing so terrifying when he knew the eventual something to fill the void wouldn’t be as bad as he thought? Maybe it was because in the back of his head he already knew that this was a test run. The real thing would happen someday with his family, and that agonizing silence would be so much sweeter than what was going to follow. 

“Well damn.” Pidge finally said. “I mean I knew you were a fuck boi Lance, but I didn’t think you actually fuck boys.”

“Pidge!” he screeched. “I don’t like to- I mean I do but- I haven’t fucked any b- Girls I’ve fucked girls.”

“CALM DOWN.” Pidge diffused. “You’re Bi. That’s okay.”

The boy let out a sigh of relief. The words sounded wrong to hear out loud. He had spent so much time and effort hiding the fact of his sexuality from everyone, so hearing it so blatantly out in the open felt awkward. Yet he could feel one part deep within him finally let out the breath he had been holding for years. Slowly, for the first time, he let out some air.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, still fumbling with his fingers.

“Soooo.” Pidge hummed. “Tell me about him.” She rocked back and forth curled up in a ball on the floor, all thoughts of packing for her trip obviously out the window by this point.

“Well he’s… a boy.” He said, a hand coming up to scratch the back of his head.

“Aaand?”

“And, well he’s brave… and strong… and funny.”

Pidge looked at him with curious eyes, her chin resting in the palms of her hands, waiting to hear more.

“And most people don’t see how warm he is… He’s kind and cute and just warm, but he doesn’t let anyone see it. Most of the time, he’s like a kid… He tries to hide behind this facade of being flippant and disinterested, but really I think he’s just scared to show his personality… scared to show his weaknesses… and-” Lance’s face felt unbearably hot as he spoke, a smile that he hadn’t realized was there resting on his lips. Pidge stared at him, a sly grin plastered on her face.

“W- WHAT?” Lance panicked.

“Ooh nothing.” Pidge sang, deviousness written all over her face. “You’re really into this guy huh?”

“I… I don’t know… I think… maybe.”

“Obviously you are.” She confirmed. “And as of now, you guys are what? Friends?” 

“I guess.” Lance doubted. They were more like… forced friendship between enemies. Angry acquaintances? He shook away the thought.

“And the reason you’re telling me is because it’s hard having these feelings for him while still having to act like only his friend.”

“I guess.” Lance faltered again. It wasn’t like he was in love with him or anything… He just knew that things felt different with Keith. Different than they did with his other “friends.”

“So why don’t you just tell him.”

“Tell him?” Lance swallowed. Tell him what? It wasn’t like he had some huge crush on the guy… he just felt…  weird.

“There isn’t really anything to tell until I can sort out my emotions.” he decided. “If I confronted him now with “ _ I might feel some type of way for you but I’m not sure yet. _ ” It would just be weird.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Pidge thought aloud. “But what if he feels the same way?”

What if Keith felt the same way? Lance entertained the thought for a moment, but it was impossible. Lance was just the asshole who stole his sketchbook, forced him into a hell on earth group project with him, and then screamed in his face at a party. Telling Keith that he might have feelings for him might just be the last nail on the coffin of never speaking to him again.

Lance stood up slowly, the floor creaking beneath his feet. “I should start driving.”

“Okay.” Pidge responded quietly. “Well be careful driving or whatever, and I’ll see you after break oh Lanky one.” She smiled

“Yeah I’ll see you after break.” he began walking away, but stopped in the doorway. “And Pidge.”

“Hm?”

“Thanks.” He smiled over his shoulder.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The drive home was peaceful, despite the thoughts hammering in Lance’s head. He let the windows down, allowing the breeze to calm him, although frigid. The drive to his house was a bit far, but not nearly as far as other people. His two hours compared to Hunk’s seven made Lance grateful for this mercy. 

Two hours was still a bit tough for him though… He was never good at sitting still for extended periods of time. Although the constant studying in order to gain his father’s approval got him used to withstanding it. But whatever moment he could spare from the work as a kid, he spent outside. He, Marco, and Dani practically explored the whole woods behind their house. They knew every path, river, and tree back there. Those were the days they’d often get in trouble for coming home covered in mud. They were forced to hose off in the barn with the horses too many times to count. 

Lance laughed, gazing at a particularly large tree as he drove. But him, Marco, and Dani were nothing compared to the twins when they had their fun. He would never forget Sam’s proposal of the worst idea in the history of ideas. “ _ We’ll both pick our own branch and jump on it. The first person to fall loses, and whoever’s branch doesn’t snap is the superior twin _ .”

Usually when it came to a set of twins, at least one of them would have a dash of common sense. Sam and Sophie were not the usual set of twins. They were twin demons, stupid ones, who’s stupidity and recklessness was only egged on by the other’s presence… And they were inseparable. 

So as any sane person would do, Sopie took on the challenge… and let’s just say the tree wasn’t the only one that broke a limb that day. 

A smashed arm and thirteen stitches later, Sam had overwhelmingly lost. Although based on how much he flaunts the large scar on his left shoulder, Sam would probably call it a win.

Those two broke all kinds of rules, ones that Lance and the older sibling were scared to break. It made Lance wonder how Theo and Nadia would act. Like the three goody two shoes who lived their childhood only to please their parents? Like the two whirlwind devils who challenged every rule with wild grins? Or would they be something else entirely?

Lance’s gaze was drawn out the window as the scent of the breeze changed. The warm air caressed his cheek, filling his nostrils with the scent of flowers. The scent of home.

Ahead he could see the field of wildflowers that spread out just before their house. It was so cold yet they stood strong against the frigid breeze. 

He took in the sight of the house as he pulled up. It was exactly as he remembered it. Large enough to be the home of such a large family, and white. It had its own bruises and scars from their many years of reckless playing and fighting. The house itself was a symbol of his family, and looking at it through the window, Lance realized he had found another family out there. From now on it would seem that he’d always be missing a family. 

He took a deep breath, and with a smile on his face, he put the car into park.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lance crept in through the front door, a large bag slung over his shoulder. There were voices echoing from the kitchen, the smell of food wafting throughout the house masking the scent of the tropical air freshener that his mother always overused. 

The old furniture looked just as worn down as ever, and the off-white wallpaper was still peeling in some spots. He glanced behind him low to the floor on the wall at Sophie’s old scribble. The red mess of crayon had somehow ended up looking like horse… which someone named David… Lance couldn’t remember who it was. Their first horse in the barn shared this name… for sentiment's sake.

Voices carried from the kitchen… bickering and laughing like always. The clatter of pans and feet shuffling followed, hard at work. Lance had missed them, he had missed home.

Somehow he was lucky enough that no one was waiting in the living room when he’d arrived.

Setting his bag down by the stairs ahead, Lance took quiet steps past, toward the kitchen.

He peered in through the doorway.

His mom stood over the stove, stirring something in a large pot. Her long hair was braided down her back. Strands of gray creating a pattern in the dark pieces. She hummed the same old tune that she always did. 

It would seem the twins were on cutting duty, which Lance questioned who had ever thought that that was a good idea. If it were up to him, the twins would never be allowed to hold a butter knife, let alone the giant murder knives they were currently wielding.

“You’re cutting them too small.” Sophie corrected, watching their hands from under her brown bangs. The hair that used to reach past her waist, was now only a little past her shoulders. 

“You’re too small.” Sam sneered back. His hair had grown long. Half of it was tied up in a bun, the rest tickled at his shoulders… His broad shoulders… 

How old were they? Sixteen? It had been a few months since he’d seen them, but he already felt like he’s missed so much.

Lance leaned a hip on the doorframe, watching them work. The setting sun shining through the windows, bathing the kitchen in a warm glow. A small patch of pink light illuminated the wall by the doorway from the vase on the windowsill. A gift from his father to his mother for some anniversary or birthday forever ago. It was ugly, and it didn’t match the soft blues and yellows of the kitchen. However, no matter how out of place, whenever anyone in the family received flowers, they’d go in that vase. His father was never the best at giving gifts, which was probably where Lance had gotten it from. However he was always a master of practicality.

 

He watched as his mother opened the top cabinet above the stove and stretched a short arm out. She strained on her tiptoes to grab a large serving dish, her small fingers just barely grazing the edge.

With a small smile, Lance breezed in and grabbed the dish from the cabinet. “Mama I told you to ask for help when you need something from there. You could burn yourself on the stove.” He smiled big at his mother as she enveloped him in a hug. “Geez I go away for a few months and you completely forget what I taught you.” he teased, placing the large dish on the counter beside the stove.

“Oh Lance,  mi cielito .” she laughed into his neck. She smelled sweet like she always did, and her hugs felt the same. 

“You’re so skinny… haven’t you been eating well?”

“Mom he’s always been a skeleton.” Sam jeered, walking towards them, Sophie in tow. “Maybe you just aren’t used to it anymore because I started to beef up.” 

Sam did look a bit larger, Him and Sophie both. More mature in the face, he supposed, but definitely not in the mind.

“Don’t get cocky, I’ll still beat the hell out of you in a fight.”

A hand smacked the back of his head. “ Esa boca! .”

“Lo siento, mamá.”

The woman shook her head at him, as she resumed stirring the contents of the pot on the stove.

“Sooo Samuel, Sophie, how’s school been? You guys still wreaking havoc?”

“Kicking ass and taking names.” The boy smiled viciously.

A very long disappointed sigh came from their mother as she turned and lifted an eyebrow at Sam.

“Lo siento.” he muttered, turning back to the cutting board. Perhaps the only one that could tame the twins, at least temporarily, was their mom. Not even their father could control them… especially not him. It seemed that they had a certain tendency for getting, and staying, on his bad side.

“This one got suspended for a week.” Sam jerked his head in Sophie’s direction. Lance raised his eyebrows, smiling at his sister.

“Well spill the tea, let’s go woman.” he persisted excitedly. Him or any of his older siblings never had the guts to get into trouble when they were younger, or even now for that matter, but the twins yielded to no one. 

“It doesn’t matter.” Sophie deflected, her arms coming up to hug herself.

“She beat the hell out of some guy in her english class… He had a nasty bruise to show for it too.” Sam laughed.

“Jesus Soph why’d you do that?” Lance asked playfully.

“She says it’s just because he’s an asshole, but Murphy’s in that class and he told me that Kyle was running his mouth about me just before.”

“Samuel.” Their mother warned.

“It’s my business so just leave it alone.” Sophie sneered at her brother. Lance was getting more and more concerned about the murder knives that they were both still weilding.

“If he was talking about me then it’s my business too.” Sam affirmed, grabbing the knife from his sister’s hand, and placing both of them on the counter.

“Can you just let it go and let me cut these fucking vegetables?!” She motioned a manicured hand at the cutting board.

“That’s enough!” Their mother scolded, tired of their careless cursing. “Now you better stop with that before the little ones come in.” A scowl rested in her brow as she turned back to the stove. 

 

“Mamá!” The back door smacked shut, a small figure entering the kitchen.

Speak of the devil.

“Theo pushed me off the swing!” Nadia screeched, tears streaming from her blue eyes. There was dirt smeared on the dark skin of her legs and the bottom of her pink dress, which she definitely would’ve gotten in trouble for if she hadn’t been hurt.

Their mother breezed over and looked her over carefully. Blood smeared her right knee, and she rubbed at her eyes with scraped hands. The signature wounds from everyone's childhood. 

Theo appeared in the doorway shuffling nervously. His blue-green eyes stayed trained on Nadia, concern resting in his features. He had always been mature for a kid.

“Lance!” The little girl smiled wide through her tears running over to him and latching tightly onto his leg. 

“Hey princess.” He laughed, ruffling the thick curls of her hair. “Let me see those battle wounds huh?” He crouched down and looked closely. 

Nadia shifted as he examined her legs, afraid he’d touch her ouchies.

“Hm.” he hummed, a finger resting on his lips.

“What what?!” she pleaded tapping on the top of his head.

“It’s just as I thought.”

“Tell me!”

“You fell off that dragon of yours again didn’t you?”

She looked at him, eyes full of wonder, and then nodded.

“Mi hijo, if you keep feeding into her fantasies she’ll never grow out of them.” Their mother scolded, standing back over the pot, a hand on her hip.

Lance stood up with a sigh and reached a hand out to his sister.

“Why don’t we go clean those wounds reinita, before they get infected.”

Nadia took his hand and smiled at him. 

“Why don’t you tag along too little prince?” Lance said, nodding his head at Theo who fidgeted with the hem of his shirt in the corner.

He followed them quietly, taking turns looking between the ground and Nadia.

  
  
  


Lance lifted his sister onto the counter. 

“You must have been flying pretty high on that dragon huh?” he said, grabbing the first aid supplies from the cabinet.

“We were so high I thought we’d go upside down!” The legs that dangled off the edge of the counter kicked excitedly.

“How’d you get him to go so high? What’s his name again?”

“Her name!” she corrected. “Her name is moon. And Theo was pushing me.”

Right… Moon. Because Nadia insisted if she were only allowed to go on the swing at night, she could fly high enough to touch the moon. 

“What about you Theo? What was your dragon’s name again?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“You don’t have to feel sad, Nadia knows it was an accident. Isn’t that right?”

She nodded, her tears finally dry.

“Princesses and Princes protect each other isn’t that right?”

They both agreed, Theo allowing a small smile to escape in relief.

“So what was that dragons name again?”

“Rose.”

“That’s right, Rose. How could I forget.”

“Because you’re old!” Nadia laughed, as he wiped the blood from her knee.

“What?!” he retaliated, feigning shock and hurt. “I’m not that old yet. You’re making me sad Nadia. I might cry.” He wiped at his eye jokingly and both the children giggled.

As he carefully placed a bandaid on her knee she inhaled sharply. 

He froze for a second. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?” he asked.

“No no! I just remembered!” her blue eyes sparkled. “Look look!” She lifted the hair away from her ears and bit her lip excitedly.

“Oh wow you got your ears pierced!” he exclaimed, seeing the small diamonds. “They’re lovely! Like two little sparkling stars.”

“Sophie got some too!”

“What about you Theo? Got any cool piercings?”

He shook his head.

“Papá said earrings are for girls.” Nadia informed.

“When did he say that?”

“Sam wanted some.” Theo said, playing with the hem of his shirt again.

“Theo wanted some too.” Sophie chimed, letting Lance wipe her hands off.

“Sophie!”

“What? You did!” she defended.

“Hey there principito it’s okay.” Lance motioned for the boy to come closer. “Let me tell you about this superhero I know.”

“You know a superhero?!” Theo’s eyes widened as he clenched excited fists.

“Yup. Met him at University.” Lance grinned proudly. “He’s my age, but a bit smaller than me. He spends most of his time alone, and his face is mean looking most of the time.”

“He doesn’t sound like a superhero.” Sophie doubted, cocking her head. 

“What’s his superpower?” Theo asked.

“Hmm… Well… He can create anything he wants.”

“Like a sword?”   
“Sure.”

“Or a sandwich the size of his head?”

“If he wanted to… But he doesn’t need his power to help people. He saved me just fine without it.”

“You were in trouble?!” Sophie exclaimed

“Everyone is in trouble sometimes.” he reasoned. “He saved a little kitten when I was too afraid to. He’s very brave.”

“He’s so cool!” Theo decided smiling brightly.

“Right? And you wanna know the really cool part?”

They both nodded so quickly Lance was afraid they’d get whiplash.

“He has tons of sparkly earrings. All over his ears.”

“Really?” Theo wondered.

“Yup, and they look totally cool… He doesn’t let anyone tell him who to be, and that’s pretty awesome.”

The kids both looked at him in wonder. He really did miss them.

“Can we meet him?!” Sophie asked.

“Maybe one day.” He said grabbing her under the armpits. “You’re all done.” He placed her back on the floor where she continued to look up at him.

“Can you come play outside with us?” They both used puppy dog eyes times one thousand. One pair blue, the other hazel.

“I’m afraid not Princess.” he said ruffling each of their hair with a hand. “I’ve got some unpacking to do.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lance stared at the artificial starlight projecting onto his ceiling. Now that he was older, they seemed to have lost their magic. Instead of wonder, looking up at them, he just felt bored, yearning to see an actual sky full of stars. 

It had been a week since he’s gotten back home, and yet he still hadn’t seen his father. Apparently he had to go away on some business trip before Lance got back, and now he just lay there in his bed, dreading tonight when he’d finally come home. It wasn’t that Lance didn’t love him, or at least appreciate what he does to take care of his family. He just hated everything his father believed in. The beliefs and terribly high expectations he pushed on his children. When he’s in the room the tension is just… different. 

“Lance!” The sound of his mom’s voice interrupted his thoughts. She was yelling from downstairs, the same way she did to wake him up everyday for school not too long ago. His stomach turned just thinking about it. 

“Lance come down stairs your cousin is here!” 

That’s right… His aunt and uncle were arriving today. They had one son, Luca. Lance hasn’t seen the kid since he was six, so he tried to keep his opinion on him neutral, although his parents were not Lance’s favorite people. Since he’s closest in age to Lance, he was assigned the duty of re-introducing him to everyone, and giving him the “grand tour” of their house.

“And wake the twins while your at it!” his mother added up the stairs, as he finally willed himself out of his bed. He had already been awake for a few hours, his inner clock still set to wake up for class. He flicked off the star projector on the dresser, and headed down the hallway to wake the twins. As he walked along, the floorboards creaked, reminding him of the many nights he spent learning where each one was. He was sure all of his siblings could probably walk this hallway blind without making a single sound. It was one of the effects, he supposed, of having such strict parents… It just made them all masters at sneaking around unnoticed.

Lance took quiet steps into their room, moving to wake Sam first. When it came to waking the demons up, Samuel was easy. Lance patted one of the bare shoulders that stuck out from the covers.

“Let’s go buddy, time to get up. The scarecrows are here.”

Sam is the one who gave them the nickname, he claimed that they were just like scarecrows in the fact that they both had sticks up their butts.

The boy groaned as Lance grabbed him by the hand, guiding him into a sitting position. His bed hair was atrocious now that there was so much of it, and his eyes were barely open as he rubbed them with his knuckles. For being such a wild child he had always been surprisingly tame when he woke.

“Come on.” Lance said pushing the side of his brothers head. “You need to get Sophie up.”

The girl was the exact opposite of Sam when it came to getting out of bed. There was thrashing, a lot of thrashing, and groaning. They usually pinned waking her up on Sam, who had gotten pretty good at coming out of the battle unscathed. 

“I’ll be downstairs showing Luca around and stuff. PLEASE don’t leave me hanging for too long.” 

“mhm.” Sam grumbled, before stumbling to his sisters bed. 

  
  


Everyone was gathered right at the bottom of the stairs when Lance had come down. His aunt and uncle looked just as he remembered. Aunt Marisa was practically the female version of his father, straight dark hair, and cold eyes. Her already small waist had gotten even smaller, and her outfit was fancy and well put together as usual. Uncle Oscar looked very different compared to the rest of the family. He had pale skin, and curly light blonde hair, and since the last time lance had seen him, he had grown a mustache that put him on a whole new level of creep. Right between them stood Luca. His straight blonde hair was styled back with gel, his dark eyes trained down at his phone. 

As Lance reached the last step, he realized Luca’s height. He was maybe the same height as Lance, if not a bit shorter. Honestly the best way for Lance to describe his looks, he’d say a very Chad looking version of Draco Malfoy.

“Marco it’s very good to see you.” His aunt smiled at him, her white teeth catching the light. 

“How’s your wife? We really were so disappointed that we couldn’t make it to your wedding, but you know we had to be there for Luca when he received that award.”

“Marisa this is Lance.” Lance’s mother cut in, placing a hand on his shoulder.

His aunt’s face stopped with her mouth hanging open, as she processed for a few moments too long the  information she had received. It was almost as if she didn’t even remember who he was.

The woman leaned back, a forced smile spread across her thick lips. “My you’ve grown up so much I didn’t even recognize you.”

“Hey don’t sweat it.” Lance began, forcing a smile of his own. “I was eight the last time we met. It’s good to see you again.” He held out a hand, and was almost surprised when his aunt reached out and met it.

“Good to see you again.” His uncle shook Lance’s hand for a few moments too long before letting go and stepping back. However their gaze remained on Lance. 

“It’s good to see you too Luca.” Lance smiled, going for one final handshake. The boy looked skeptically up from his phone, taking Lance’s hand in his. 

“You’ve gotten taller huh?” Luca observed, looking up at Lance who was in fact a few inches taller. 

“Yeah.” Lance laughed. “And you aren’t in diapers anymore.” The boy raised his eyebrows at Lance’s remark, remaining unamused with the whole interaction. He was apparently not very thrilled about spending his Christmas holiday at his cousin’s countryside home. Lance didn’t blame him.

“I thought since it’s been so long, I could show you around and re-introduce you to everyone if you’re interested.” He said motioning his head toward the kitchen.

“What a great idea.” Luca’s mother smiled. The boy and his mother made eye contact for a few moments before he looked back at Lance and nodded. The slant in his eyebrows was enough to tell Lance this was going to be absolute torture for him. 

  
  


Lance led the boy out the back door, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. 

“So you’re eighteen now.” he tried to start some kind of conversation to fill the awkward silence. “That’d make you a senior right?”

He nodded.

“You apply to any colleges yet?”

“Harvard.” The boy said bluntly.

“Oh wow… Did you apply anywhere else as a backup or?”

“No. I won’t need one.” There wasn’t a shadow of doubt in the boy’s words. Rightfully so, seeing as his father worked pretty high up in the school. Luca would probably be handed a full ride without the bat of an eyelash because of his father’s standing. Lance gritted his teeth.

“What about you? You are in college right?” Everything about Luca’s tone said that he was bored, but his eyes flickered with satisfaction.

“Yeah, I just got home for break a week ago.” He said, now forcing himself to sound like he wasn’t steaming from the ears.

“Where?”

“Altea University.”

A few stray strands of hair danced in the wind as he sneered. “Not bad.” His face told Lance just how little he thought of him. If it wasn’t for his parents, Lance was sure he could never have even dreamed of getting accepted to somewhere like Harvard. His eyes were dark, and although faint, Lance couldn’t mistake the stench of weed coming from his designer clothes His composure was a facade, and he doubted his scarecrow parents had any idea. 

 

“Lance! Lance!” Nadia came bounding up to him, but when she noticed Luca, she took a shy step backwards. 

“Hey princess.” he smiled ruffling her dark curls. “This is our cousin Luca.” He said motioning to the boy next to him. “Luca, this is Nadia.”

To Lance’s surprise, Luca crouched down low, and smiled at his sister. “And how old are you little miss?” 

“I’m six.” She said shyly, holding out six of her tiny fingers to show him.

“What?” He feigned surprise. “I could’ve sworn you were at least ten.”

Lance was taken aback by Luca’s response. This was the most emotion he had seen on the kid’s face since they got there. Not to mention his attitude went in a complete 360 in the last minute. Just a second ago he was sneering at Lance’s incompetence. 

Nadia giggled. “Theo’s ten. I’m six.” 

“And where might Theo be?”

Nadia turned back to Lance, wearing a bright smile. “He’s with Marco and Dani at the swing.”

“Swing?” Lance asked confused. They didn’t have a swing, at least not since the twins broke the old one.

“Yeah.” She nodded excitedly. “Marco just made it for us. Come see!” 

Luca stood back up, his features returning to stone as Nadia dashed back into the trees. He side eyed Lance and then motioned to the woods ahead. 

 

Lance led the kid with multiple personalities through the woods in the direction Nadia ran off. Apparently Luca was extremely good at emanating superficial charm when he felt like it. His changing personality reminded Lance too much of some other prick he knew. Perhaps that’s why he couldn’t bring himself to think of Luca as anything more than a snake… He reminded Lance of that bitchy sleazebag James Griffin. 

 

They heard Theo’s hysterical laughing before they could even see what was going on.The boy was swinging wildly from a large tree branch, clearing the open space as if he was flying. Nadia stood close to Marco, looking up excitedly at her brother.

“Hey glad you could make it.” Lance’s older brother said approaching them. He stood taller than the both of them, and he was five times as muscular too. Not to mention he looked like some kind of greek god. Lance was sure even a spoiled little rich boy like Luca would feel intimidated by Marco, but if he did, he didn’t show it.

“You did this?” Lance asked watching as his brother flew through the air gleefully.

“Yeah, it wasn’t hard. We’ve had plenty of practice climbing trees.” He smiled bumping Lance’s arm with an elbow. “Not to mention it makes being on kid duty a whole lot easier.” 

“Yeah you’d better get used to it.” Lance laughed, remembering the news he’d heard. “You and Laura will be on kid duty 24/7 soon.”

“Yeah.” Marco laughed. “Crazy stuff.” He turned to face Luca, who remained unbothered. “Anyway, I’m Marco. I’m the oldest of the many Mcclain siblings. We’ve met before a long time ago I think.”

“Yeah.” He answered. “I’m Luca.” 

They shook hands briefly, the bright confidence of Marco’s eyes meeting the cold indifference of their cousin’s. 

“Where’s Dani?” Lance questioned, realizing his older sister was nowhere to be found.

“She went back to the house to find Sam and Sophie… I figured it would be better to keep them where we could see them.” Marco explained, placing large hands on his hips.

“Probably a good idea.” 

“Lucas! Lucas!” Nadia bounded over to look up at their cousin.

“Luca.” He corrected coolly. 

Lance’s sister wasn’t fazed. “Come try out the swing!” 

Luca smiled down at the girl, but his eyes lacked emotion. “I’m afraid not little lady.”

“Why not?” she whined, tugging on the corner of their cousin’s shirt.

“Swings are for children.” He said suddenly, crossing his arms. 

“They’re for adults too.” Nadia protested.

“Maybe stupid ones.”

The little girl took a step back, confusion written all over her small face.

“Hey dude.” Lance warned, gently pushing on Luca’s arm. His cousin’s eyes flicked up to his.

“What? It is stupid.” He sneered. “Just like this whole damn farm house. It’s no wonder you all are fools. It’s just as mother said.” He was calm, his words came out of his mouth as if he were reading facts from a book. It became apparent that Luca truly believed he was above everyone here.

“Is there a problem here?” 

Samuel appeared out of nowhere, his voice deeper than Lance had ever heard before. He stood, to grip one of their cousin’s shoulders in a firm warning, Sophie trotting up to stop a few feet behind them. Sam was shorter than Luca, but his presence was wilder. Watching them stare down was like fire and ice.

Their cousin let his eyes wander down to where Sam’s hand gripped him. Calculating, he looked back up at the boy.

“The problem is your hand on me.” He said coolly.

“No.” Sam growled “The problem is that you believe you can talk shit on my family and do as you please.” 

Lance watched as their eyes battled. Sam’s a wildfire, angry and consuming, and Luca’s an impenetrable wall of ice. Lance was amazed at how long Sam sat there seething without throwing a punch. Usually he was a violence first, talk later kind of guy. Lance supposed Luca was getting special restraint from the boy due to the consequences that could come with beating up his cousin. 

Finally Luca spoke, his voice hanging dead in the air. “I was out of place. I apologize.” 

Sam searched his unapologetic eyes a few moments longer before releasing the grip he had on his shoulder. 

“Okay.” he said bluntly, turning to walk away, but a voice no louder than the wind stopped him in his tracks.

“Faggot.”

Everyone was still for a moment. Nervous and angry eyes looked around, as Sam tensed at their cousin’s words.

“I’m sorry.” he laughed, the wind whipping his hair as he turned around slowly. “What did you just say?”

Luca crossed his arms. “What? I called you what you are. I mean between those earrings and your hair, it couldn’t be more blatantly obvious. It might as well be written across your forehead.”

Sophie moved, the same fire burning in her eyes, but Marco caught her by the arm before she could act on her intentions.

“What is it that you think I am?” Samuel said, taking slow, heavy steps toward Luca.

“A fag.” He said casually, as if the word held no weight at all.

Finally Samuel released his fury in the form of a fist square into Luca’s face, and the worst part was, that Luca didn’t move an inch. As Sam wound up for another strike, he just smiled, as blood poured out of his now broken nose. 

 

As soon as his brother had thrown the first punch, Lance ran to hold Nadia and Theo. He pushed their faces into his torso, hoping they didn’t see much of their brother’s vicious expression. He looked like a monster, hitting their cousin who didn’t defend himself. 

Sam got a solid four hits in before Dani pried him off of the kid. It was horrible to watch, it was as if Luca had just been looking to get beaten up. He didn’t even fight back, he just let Sam beat him until he was bleeding into the dirt on the ground. 

Everything else happened in a blur. Lance had no idea what had really happened. Why had Luca picked that fight? Why didn’t he hit back? Or at the very least try to block the attacks… 

 

Lance offered Luca a hand, the children running over to walk with Marco and Dani. Surprisingly Luca accepted Lance’s offer, and rose to his feet. 

“What the hell was that?” Lance asked, slinging one of his cousin’s arms around his shoulders to help him walk. After a few moments of shuffling in silence, Lance dared a look at his bloodied face.

An empty laugh escaped his cousin, as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I don’t know.” he rasped.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The atmosphere at the table was uncomfortable to say the least. Lance had listened to their Aunt Marisa tear Sam to shreds for an hour. Nobody told her what happened… at least not the extent of it. The only information she had to go on, was Luca’s bloody nose, and Samuel’s bloody fist. 

It took the whole hour for their Uncle Oscar to defuse his wife, and finally convince her to take Luca to the hospital. The whole time, their cousin just stood there, taking some heat from his mom, as his nose soaked through a whole towel with blood. He didn’t blame Sam, and Sam didn’t blame him. They both just stood there in silence as if there was no problem at all. 

 

An hour later, and their relatives were at the hospital, and the Mcclains ordered takeout. A haul of chinese food was scattered all over the dining room table, the kids digging into their food. Neither Samuel or Sophie touched theirs, and Lance couldn’t blame them. He wasn’t quite in the mood to dig in either, not when there was a shadow looming over them. Their father would be home any minute.

They knew there was no way their aunt hadn’t called their father after seeing what Samuel did to Luca… and there was no way he wouldn’t be furious. The three of them waited for what seemed like hours for the time bomb to finally explode, the rest of their family digging into the food around them. And then finally, the front door opened, and their father stepped inside.

 

The first sign of his ferocity was the silence. When their mother greeted him, his answer was bland and tasteless. He sat at the head of the table, his gaze focused completely on Samuel, whose eyes were trained down at his plate. Silence engulfed them, as even the little ones had noticed the shift in atmosphere. Under the table, Sophie grabbed Samuel’s hand, and gripped it tightly in comfort.

“So.” Their father began, his voice low. “Samuel. How was your day?”

The question was a challenge. It was Sam’s chance to come clean about the situation before their father brought it up himself. Who knew if in the end it made any difference in how he’d react… Lance supposed that’s why Sam looked up with burning eyes and challenging smirk.

“Honestly it could’ve been better.” he said. 

Luca had been right about one thing, Sam was a fool… Or perhaps he was the only one brave enough to be one. 

Their father let out a long breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“What went wrong?” he finally said, shaking his head. “Huh? Samuel? Tell me.”

“What do you mean what went wrong?” Sam asked.

“With you for god sakes! What went wrong?! Their father raised his voice, as the whole room dove into silence between every single word. “Look at your brothers! We never had issues with them, but you and your sister?! You’re wild beasts! I’ve been on the phone with Marisa for AN HOUR listening to what you did to your cousin! I mean do you even know how your actions reflect on this family?!” 

“Stop it dad.” Sophie dared, her voice steady.

“Do you even know what you look like?! Between the hair and the ear piercings, I thought you were your sister when I looked at you!”

“Gabriel that’s enough!” Their mother tried. “Don’t do this. Especially with the little ones listening.”

“No Gracia, he should know that he is dragging this family down. I-I don’t want someone to see my son, MY BOY, looking like some faggot. Do you know how that reflects on us?! I mean goddamnit Samuel what the hell went wrong with you?! All you ever do is ruin us. How many people have you beaten up this year huh? What is it ten?!” 

“Dad. Enough.” Lance growled, tensing in his seat. He couldn’t take it anymore, any of it. He couldn’t stand watching as his brother took the verbal beating of a lifetime. His eyes still screamed with their burning strength, but his hand shook where it held his sister’s. 

“And if ruining yourself and your families reputation wasn’t enough, you’re dragging your sister down with you! She cut off her hair, gets into fights, hell she’s more manly than your pathetic ass!”   
“Dad I’m Bi!” Lance yelled so loud he heard it echo in his ears. “So if you’re going to yell at someone, yell at me!”

 

The words just came out so fast, he couldn’t control it. Even as he felt his entire life falling apart with each word, they didn’t stop. “Have you ever stopped to consider maybe YOU are the one ruining this family?! All of your kids are terrified of you! You don’t get to control who they are. You can’t keep trying to make us carbon copies of you! YOU ARE THE ONE RUINING US, AND I HATE YOU FOR IT.” 

 

The words hung dead in the air. Lance’s chest was heaving, he felt light-headed. He wasn’t sure if he had ever screamed so loud in his life, or been so angry. He waited, panting, in the long torturing silence for something… anything. 

“Lance.” His father’s voice cut into him like shards of broken glass, deep, and unforgiving. “Come with me outside. Now.”

 

His father gripped his arm so hard he thought it might shatter. His mind barely processed the sound of thunder, as the sky flashed. 

They went out front. Where no one would be able to hear what his father said. So that they wouldn’t be able to see when Lance’s father slapped his son so hard that it left bruised finger prints on his face. 

Lance wasn’t sure how long he was left on the ground. When his father finally came back, he threw his keys by his son’s face on the ground.

“Get up Lance.” His voice was so inappropriately calm. He yanked Lance back to his feet by a limp arm. Squeezing both of his son’s shoulders tightly, he spoke. “Look at me.” he demanded. “LOOK AT ME LANCE.” 

Sapphire eyes flicked up.

“You WILL NOT COME BACK until you have fixed yourself. Do you hear me? Don’t talk to your siblings. I won’t have them picking up this nonsense.” He growled, squeezing harder. “Go.”

“Dad I-”

“GO LANCE. NOW.”

He went.

  
  


He wasn’t crying. His mind just didn’t think to do it. Instead he listened to the rain as it hit the windshield. He was driving, but he didn’t know where to. It was incredible he even got behind the wheel and left without his mind functioning at all. The storm was all he heard, besides that, there was nothing.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Goddamnit Keith, I told you we’re putting a tree up this year and YOU’RE HELPING.”

“And I said, I’M BUSY.” Keith snapped at Shiro, whose hands were overflowing with Christmas lights. “It’s a fake tree anyway, isn’t that bad luck?” He added.

“What? No. Why would it be bad luck?”

Keith shrugged. Shiro and Adam had been decorating the apartment for the past hour before Adam took a break to make dinner. Keith had already helped hang lights up on the walls and the ceiling, in his mind, his part was done. 

“Hey Takeshi?” Adams voice called across the flat. 

“Yeah?”

“Help?” 

Shiro shook his head at the lack of information, as he moved to help his husband, leaving the Christmas lights in a tangled mess on the floor. 

Keith sighed. Maybe now that everyone was gone, he could finally focus. Just as he picked up his book again, however, he heard two faint knocks on the door. 

Seeing as the door was right next to the kitchen, he waited for one of the other two to get it, but nobody came. 

Angrily, Keith set down his book, and stalked up to the door. In one fluid motion, he swung the door open, more than ready to fight a few carolers if it meant he’d finally get peace and quiet. 

However when he opened the door, his heart dropped. 

His brain didn’t even have time to process what he was seeing before his mouth opened, his voice escaping as nothing more than a confused whisper.

“Lance?”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've re-written this chapter three times, so the bloops are like twenty pages long... All I'll provide here is a small scene I ended up taking out. So I guess um.. here go...
> 
> BLOOPS:
> 
> “Why do I always get milking duty?” Lance whined from the stall. His sleeves were rolled up, and he was all up in Diane’s utters. Who even names a cow Diane?  
> “Would you rather have shit shoveling duty?” Marco called from another stall, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead with an arm. Marco was the oldest, and he definitely looked it. He was tall and muscular, his jawline could probably cut diamonds. His hair was the same color as Nadia’s, a bit darker than everyone else's, and cut short. Of course he married a goddess of a woman, Laura. She was tall and thin, with tan skin and curly blonde hair. She was pregnant with their first, which meant soon Marco would be a dad… It was extremely hard to imagine,especially when Lance had shared a room with the surgeon when he was still pretending to be a Power Ranger.  
> “Guess not.” Lance grumbled getting back to his work. He’d been milking the damn cow since he was nine.  
> “Dani, how come you always get to groom the horses huh?” Lance sneered. “I’ve never seen you shovel horse shit in your life.”  
> “Besides out of her mouth.” Marco laughed under his breath.  
> “I get to groom the horses because I’m obviously the best at earning mom’s favor.”  
> “By crying when you had to shovel shit?”  
> “Exactly.” She smiled, brushing the side of her horse. “I wasn’t going to let one of you nasty brutes man handle my Athena.”  
> “I’d hardly call Lance a brute.” Marco sneered over the stall.  
> “True.”  
> “Hey! I’m plenty strong!” he retaliated standing up from the stool.  
> “Lance I watched you get taken down by a kid who was practically half your size at the cafe.”  
> “Wha- … Keith doesn’t count, he’s the devil incarnate.”  
> “Whatever you say lanky.”  
> “Why is it that everyone is attacking me as soon as I get home. I’m not even that skinny!”  
> “It’s okay Lance.” Marco patronized. “Not everyone can be a hot daddy like me.”  
> “Jesus christ.” Lance cursed. “Whatever, I’m done here, I’m going inside.”  
> “Don’t you wanna brush Vince?” Dani asked, one of Athena’s hooves in her grasp.  
> “You can do it.”
> 
> * * *
> 
> Hi! It's me again.  
> This chapter gave me a lot of trouble, but I liked getting more into Lance's family life and stuff. I feel like my writing usually follows Keith's perspective because I relate a lot more to him as a character, so getting to know Lance more was a lot of fun for me. I already had his family planned out for a long time (like before we ever met them on the actual show) and was super excited to finally write them into existence.  
> I love reading your comments and hearing feedback! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!  
> Until next time!  
> Love,  
> Damari5


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